Tauranga is once again the driest and sunniest centre in the country recording more than 2000 sunshine hours in October.

Figures released by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research show of the six main centres, Tauranga has the most sunshine hours so far this year, with a total of 2023 hours recorded.

If you like dry and sunny weather, Tauranga is the place to be.

Tauranga, Te Puke and Motu in the Bay of Plenty all recorded their highest average maximum temperatures of 20.3, 20 and 18.1 degrees respectively. Records for Tauranga began in 1913.

A statement from NIWA shows Auckland was the warmest, Christchurch was the coolest, Tauranga was the driest and sunniest, and Wellington was the wettest and cloudiest of the six main centres.

'October was a very sunny month for Northland, Gisborne, Hawke's Bay and mid-Canterbury (well above normal sunshine totals, more than 125 per cent of October normal), said the statement.

'Above normal sunshine (110-125 per cent of normal October sunshine) occurred throughout central parts of the North Island, Bay of Plenty and northern Auckland.”

NIWA is characterising October by mean sea level pressure anomalies that were strongly negative around the New Zealand region, particularly in the south-western sector.

'These regional pressure patterns resulted in frequent west to south-west flows across New Zealand.

'These flows resulted in considerable October rainfall totals along and west of the Southern Alps, and frequent episodes of warm air temperatures to the east of the Southern Alps due to the foehn effect.”

Considerable variations in rainfall anomalies were observed across the country.

Well below normal rainfall (less than 50 per cent of October normal) was recorded throughout Northland, Auckland and Gisborne. Rainfall was either well below normal or below normal (50-79 per cent of October normal) in Waikato (with the exception of the southwest of the region), Bay of Plenty and Hawke's Bay.

'As at November 1, soils were drier than normal in north-eastern parts of New Zealand, especially about Northland, northern Auckland and coastal Bay of Plenty.

'In contrast, soils were wetter than normal about eastern Southland and Otago, the Southern Lakes, northern Canterbury and Whanganui. Soil moisture levels were mostly near normal for the remainder of the country.”