Hot on the heels of New Plymouth being named the sunniest town in New Zealand, Taranaki Regional Council has revealed that the city recorded the highest air temperature across the region last year at nearly 30°C.

Data for 2025 shows the Council’s monitoring station at Brooklands Zoo recorded a temperature of 29.89°C on 22 January taking the crown from the gauge at Hawken Road in South Taranaki which spiked at 31.14°C in January 2024.

The Waitōtara site did retain its number one spot for the lowest rainfall across Taranaki though in 2025 – a position it has held for many years – with 948.6mm. The North Taranaki at Camphouse gauge recorded the highest amount of rainfall (8443.9mm) with Dawson Falls second (7598.5mm).

While Taranaki has a reputation for enjoying a healthy dose of rain, New Plymouth was named the sunniest town by Earth Sciences NZ after it enjoyed 2743 hours of sunshine in 2025.

Craig Pickford, the Council’s Team Leader – Environmental Data, says last year was also marked by several severe weather events including very heavy downpours in early July which saw many rivers respond with record high flows as the region was inundated with rain.

“Our staff are out in all weather conditions checking the 115 monitoring stations we have in Taranaki and that includes during severe rainfall and high river flow like we had last July,” says Mr Pickford.

“We know the importance of keeping the public updated, especially when we’re in the middle of a severe weather event which can include everything from a huge deluge to a prolonged period without rain like the drought conditions in South Taranaki last summer.

“It’s key information for many people across the region. This could be hikers heading up Taranaki Maunga, farmers wanting to know about soil conditions and, of course, our partners such as Taranaki Civil Defence and Emergency Management.”

The July weather event set two records for the year with the largest river flow on 3 July at the Bertrand Road gauge on the Waitara River while the most rain over a 24-hour period outside Te Maunga was also recorded on the same day with 173mm in Egmont Village.

“We know people love to chat about the weather and if they want to know exactly what’s happening, our environmental data webpage is the best place to go as it’s updated every 15 minutes,” adds Mr Pickford.

“The rising number of severe weather events we’re seeing each year strongly indicates that our climate is changing and reinforces the need to keep monitoring our weather.”

To check out the TRC's environmental data page, head here: https://www.trc.govt.nz/environment/maps-and-data/regional-overview

Fast facts: Last year’s climate figures

• On average across all rain gauges, there was 1% more rain than normal
• Waitōtara at Hawken Rd had 17% less than normal rainfall
• There was 18% more than usual rainfall at North Taranaki at Camphouse
• The highest wind gust was 126.7km/hr at Uriti at Kaka Rd
• The lowest air temperature was –2.58°C at Tawhiti at Duffy’s in South Taranaki
• The lowest water temperature was at Waiaua 2 at Barraclough Opua in South Taranaki at 4.76°C

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