Auckland Airport has recorded its wettest year on record with two months to spare.
A total of 1513mm of rain has fallen so far at the Auckland Airport rain gauge this year, beating the previous record holder when 1502mm fell in 1979.
MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris said that the biggest contributor to Auckland’s rainfall was the frequency of subtropical low pressure systems approaching from the north.
"These are not unusual around our shores but the incidence of these systems is typically increased by La Niña."
Two such events, the Auckland Anniversary floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, contributed to record setting amounts of monthly rainfall in January and May.
On January 28, 245mm of rain fell, the wettest 24-hour period on record at the Auckland Airport rain gauge.
"From Friday to Sunday there was about 300mm of rain at the station. That's more than a quarter of the yearly average rain."
Ferris said that it is widely accepted that climate change has meant an increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events around the globe.
"The basic ideas are that that if the air is warmer, then it has the potential to hold more water vapour.
"Another very closely linked idea is the strength and persistence of marine heatwaves which again increases the amount of water vapour which is simply fuel for flooding rain."
He said that breaking a yearly rainfall record like this is "unlikely" to happen again soon.
"What is more likely in the coming years and decades is that we see more of the high intensity rainfall events."
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