It's been one of the wettest Waikato winters out - and it's starting to take it's toll.

The region has already been drenched with its rain quota for August (119 mm), and we're only half way through the month.

“If it keeps going like this it might get up to one and a half to two times normal for the month," NIWA climate scientist Andrew Tait said.

Meanwhile last month, the Waikato saw almost double the normal rainfall, with 224mm compared to the 137mm average.

“We seem to be stuck in a bit of a rut. If we get a nice big anti-cyclone that comes over from Australia then that's a nice way to break out of one of those.”

The continual rain has left people feeling down in the dumps and farmers crying out for a dry spell.

But with Metservice predicting more rain in coming days, and Niwa tipping higher-than-average rainfall until October, there is little light at the end of the tunnel.

Carrie Barber, a Waikato University senior lecturer in clinical psychology, said research showed people's moods can be affected by the gloomy light levels that accompany rainy weather.

So if the rain keeps up in the Waikato, it might starts affecting residents' moods.

Meanwhile farmers are also feeling the brunt of the weather, as muddy fields double the difficulty of tasks such as feeding and calving.

“It adds an extra hour to your day and you spend all day walking around in wet weather gear and slopping in mud which is very taxing,” said Waikato Federated Farmers president James Houghton.

He has experienced half his average annual rainfall in the past eight weeks alone, and is bracing for more this weekend.

“Our effluent ponds are getting extremely full at the moment. We're struggling to get fine weather to be able to apply that effluent out onto the paddocks.”

He also has to deal with calving difficulties as cows go down in the wet air at night and can't get back up.

“In my time farming I don't really remember a six week period where we've had this much rain.”

The wet is also taking it's toll on schools, with many reporting higher-than-normal absentee rates.

At Ohaupo, Kaipaki School principal Steve Dunsmore said his 50-pupil rural Waikato primary school was averaging about 10 per cent of students off through sickness each day.

"We'll have entire families off at a time."

The kids that do turn up are “fed up” with the rain.

"All of our grounds and grass areas are out of bounds so they have restricted places to play," Hillcrest Normal School principal Irene Cooper said.

"Stomping in puddles is fun, but after a month it's not so fun anymore."

But there is a bright side to the unusual weather, while it might be sodden underfoot, the average temperature is above normal.

The average minimum temperature for August has been up 1.4 degrees Celsius to 5.9C.

That's good news for Green Acres franchise owner Barry Dorn who, despite having the slowest growth period in about 20 years, says spring is looking promising.

“The last couple of weeks things have started to grow when the sun pokes its nose out.”

The rain had also kept the front away.

"So any bit of sun after what we've been through just works magic.”

- additional reporting Louise Risk

WAIKATO WINTER GLOOM July's rainfall was 224mm, average is 137mm. August already had 119mm – the normal amount for the whole month Average daily temperature is up about 1.5 degrees Celsius Expect above average rainfall until the end of October

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