March 2024 was Cool and Dry

Murray from Paraparaumu

March in Kāpiti, like most of central New Zealand, was around a degree cooler than normal, and much drier.

Our daily average maximum temperature of 20.3C was 1.4C cooler than the 13-year average, and almost a degree cooler than March 2023. But, despite lower temperatures we still reached 20C on 21 days, so it could qualify as a summer month.

As usual for time of year, east coast Blenheim and Masterton, at 21.6C had the highest average maximums in central New Zealand, with Nelson, Levin and Lower Hutt virtually the same as Kāpiti. However, Kāpiti’s overall mean temperature of 16.0C was the highest in central New Zealand,

We enjoyed the equivalent of 19 sunny days, only one fewer than average.

Total rainfall of only just under 40mm was recorded at the airport making it the driest March in nine years, with most falling in one episode at the beginning of the month. The little rain received in the following three weeks did little to ease the drought-like conditions. March 2023 had almost three times this amount of rain.

In April we can look forward to temperatures averaging around 19.5C, with 17 sunny days.