2015 with 15.192m
recorded as stage height at Riminui station, in the middle of the Waitotara
catchment. This compared with 13.5m at the same site recorded in 2004 and 10.8 in
July 2006.This was the highest water level recorded since the site was installed in
1993. Riminui recorded a total rainfall of 307.5mm (226% of normal) for the month of
June, with 174 mm of that total falling over the 19-20 June period.
Despite the high levels of rain and river flow, the peak flood levels in the
consent. The site has not been used in recent years.
The discharge site is approximately 120m long and 25m wide, and is shown in Figure 1.
Pātea Beach is an elevated site which for most of the year is dry. Rain that does fall on the site drains away
at a very rapid rate. The site does not suffer from flooding from rain or tidal action, due to its elevation.
1 The Council has used these compliance grading criteria for more
flank, causing fires in the native bush which swept 3km northwards across the western
slopes of the Pouakai Range (Druce, 1970, cited in Neall, 2003). 150 years later a pumice
lapilli fall and pyroclastic flows covered Maori villages, inferred from the discovery of Maori
ovens (umu) beneath the deposits. In 1755 A.D. small hot avalanches occurred from
eruptions at Taranaki. Recent evidence from Platz (2007) suggests that the most recent
eruption was between 1839 and 1866 A.D., and potentially in
relation to best practice irrigation onto high and low risk soils.
1.6 Application Depth
The volume of water applied during irrigation is referred to as the application depth. Farmers will make
reference to the amount of rain in their rain gauge in mm. For example, there was 4 mm of rainfall
yesterday. This relates to the formula 1mm of rain falling on 1 ha equals 10,000 litres. Using the example of
4mm of rainfall, this would equate to 40,000 litres of rain falling on each ha of land.
amend the
current consent. The site has not been used in recent years.
The discharge site is approximately 120m long and 25m wide, and is shown in Figure 1.
Pātea Beach is an elevated site which for most of the year is dry. Rain that does fall on the site drains away
at a very rapid rate. The site does not suffer from flooding from rain or tidal action, due to its elevation.
1 The Council has used these compliance grading
August was exceptionally wet, with many rain-gauges collecting more than twice the typical rain for the month. The average was 176.6% of the long-term average, and ranged from 80% at Rimunui Station to 387% at Dawson Falls. Year to date rainfall is sitting between 113% (Manganui at SH3 Midhirst) and 211% (Dawson Falls) with an average of 141.7% of normal. Cape Egmont remains at around 211% of normal to date and has already received 95% of a typical year’s rain in eight months. Mean river flows
Autumn arrived in Taranaki in March with an average air tempeature of 14.5°C - 1.7°C cooler than normal. The highest temperature was 25.7°C at Inglewood at Oxidation Ponds. There was an average of 95.9mm rainfall – 14% less than usual – although there were some big downpours on te Maunga with 374.5mm at the North Egmont Visitors Centre and 351mm at Dawson Falls. There was 41% less rain at Brooklands Zoo at New Plymouth and 33% more at Kotare at OSullivans. Mean river flows for March were 38.7%
page
Doc. No: 2747617
TARANAKI REGIONAL COUNCIL MONTHLY RAINFALL AND RIVER REPORT FOR March 2021
Provisional Data Only
Note: some sites record a number of parameters
Table 1: Rainfall at 27 sites throughout the region
Station Sub-region
Monthly Year to Date
Records Began Number of rain
days (>0.5mm)
Total Monthly
Rainfall (mm)
% of Monthly
Normal (%)
Total to date
(mm)
% of Normal for
year to date
% of average full
calendar year
Nth
Policy and Planning Committee Agenda 4 February 2025
The year began with Taranaki's second driest January ever, with none of our monitored sites getting even a third of their normal rainfall for the month. Totals ranged from 8% to 29% of normal, with an average of 17%, and our monitored sites recorded rain only on three to seven days during the month. Stratford recorded just 13.5mm, its lowest January total since records began in 1998. Our monitored sites on Taranaki Maunga recorded 17% to 23% of their normal Janary rainfall, with rain on five to