Nelson’s sunniest April on record

0
1372

The Metservice has confirmed what everybody already suspected, that last month was the sunniest April on record and forecasters are predicting the warm, sunny weather will continue into May.

The Metservice reported on Monday that 248 hours of sunshine was recorded at Nelson Airport in April, beating the previous high of 247.6 hours recorded in April 2012. April was also drier and warmer than usual with just 38mm of rain, 47 per cent of the monthly average, and a mean temperature of 14.4 degrees Celsius, 1.2 degrees above average for April.

Meteorological data has been recorded at Nelson Airport since the early 1940s.

And Metservice’s Georgina Griffiths says May is also shaping up to be dry and sunny after some initial rain later this week and early next week.

“Temperatures in May could be as much as two degrees above average in Nelson and around much of the country,” Georgina says.

“We could be in for a record May as well.”

However, Georgina says there are a couple of active fronts heading our way and they are expected to bring some rain later this week and again early next week.

“We’ve had highs dominating, but for the first time we see a couple of low pressure systems coming and they’ll bring some rain next week. But we’ll return to the good weather by week three in May.”

Georgina says the warm temperatures have been caused by “warmer seas around New Zealand and especially around Taranaki and Nelson.”