Temperature and rainfall take a dive
Cold, dry and sunny was the recipe for Wanganui's weather in November.
Georgina Griffiths, a climate scientist from Niwa, said Wanganui had well below average temperatures in November, but also below normal rainfall and more sunshine than normal.
Wanganui had its fourth-coldest November on record with an average temperature for the month of just 13.6C.
"That was 1.3C below the November average of 14.9C, which is a lot cooler than you'd expect for November," Ms Griffiths said.
She said a cold snap early in the month brought Wanganui's second-lowest temperature ever recorded in November - a very wintry 2.3C on the morning of November 7.
At the other end of the scale, a pleasant 20.5C was recorded on November 26, the highest in Wanganui for the month.
Ms Griffiths said solar radiation was also above normal at 113 per cent.
At 46mm for the month, Wanganui received just 60 per cent of its average rainfall.
The average is 75mm.
Ms Griffiths said cool conditions were experienced throughout most of New Zealand, due to more southerly winds than normal.
"The southerly winds were the result of much-higher-than-usual pressures over the central and southern Tasman Sea, and lower than normal pressures east of the Chatham Islands," she said.
The southerlies also meant most of New Zealand was very dry, with some parts of the Bay Of Plenty experiencing their driest November on record.
By contrast, northern Hawke's Bay and Gisborne had double their average rainfall.
The highest temperature for the month was 30.1C, observed at Blenheim on November 25, while Waiouru had the coldest of -5.1C.
