Wet start to spring for some

Spring got off to a wet start in parts of the South Island, but not everyone had to reach for their umbrellas.

Niwa today released its climate summary for last month showing west to northwest winds produced "very wet" conditions on western regions of the South Island, as well as Nelson, much of Southland, and central Otago, with totals exceeding one and half times the normal rainfall.

However, it was an "extremely sunny" and dry September in eastern areas of both islands, with sunshine totals exceeding 125 per cent of normal.

Gisborne, Hawke's Bay and Canterbury were particularly dry, though Whanganui and Wellington also experienced below-normal rainfall.

It was a also mild month for the lower South island, as well as north Canterbury, Coromandel, the Hauraki Plains, and the Rodney District, with temperatures between 0.5 degrees Celsius and 1.2C above average.

Temperatures were generally near average across the rest of the country, with the nation-wide average temperature being 10.8C despite an "unusually cold southerly" air stream hit New Zealand between September 11 and 13.

The highest temperature was 25.5C at Waiau on September 30, and the lowest was -8.1C at Mt Ruapehu on September 13.

Of the six main centres, Christchurch was the driest but also the coolest, Wellington was the sunniest, Hamilton the cloudiest, Tauranga the warmest, and Auckland the wettest.

- © Fairfax NZ News