Clear skies brought cooler nights | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

The mercury in Wairarapa dipped a little lower than usual last month, according to the latest climate figures.
Georgina Griffith, Niwa National Climate Centre scientist, said mean temperatures were close to average throughout New Zealand in July with above average daytime temperatures in some regions offset by below average night-time temperatures because of ''a predominance of clear skies''.
However, Wairarapa posted below average mean temperatures for the month along with Waikato, the central Plateau, Wellington areas and coastal Otago, she said.
Castlepoint endured one of the lowest July temperatures ever posted for the area last month, she said, recording 11.3C (a departure from normal of -1.4C), which was the second lowest temperature at the beach resort since records began in 1972.
Ms Griffiths said rainfall in the wider region stayed within normal bounds over the month, except for cloudbursts in South Wairarapa on July 23 and 24 when flooding closed the Ponatahi Bridge near Martinborough, and White Rock Rd at the intersection with Lagoon Hill Rd.
She said that of the six main centres, Auckland was the warmest, Christchurch the coolest, Wellington the wettest and Dunedin the driest. Tauranga was the sunniest of the main centres, with 183 hours of bright sunshine recorded.
July was characterised by higher than normal pressures over the country, with lower pressures to the northeast of the North Island, she said.
The frequent highs brought clear skies, dry conditions, warmer afternoons but colder mornings to many regions. Southeast winds frequently affected New Zealand over the month, and the effects of these were very clear _ western regions of the country were extremely sunny and very dry, Ms Griffiths said.
Sunshine totals were well above average (more than 125 per cent of normal) on the West Coast, in Fiordland and Southland, and across much of Otago, as well as for the Kaipara, Waikato, Taupo, and Ruapehu districts. In all other regions of New Zealand, July sunshine totals were also up.