Cropp Waterfall rainfall station 2011 data

[Rwood]

Note: all 2011 data courtesy of NIWA's EDENZ site.

There is an automated rain station at 975m ASL at the Waterfall location on the Cropp River, a tributary of the Whitcombe River, itself a tributary of the Hokitika River. This is the wettest of the NZ rainfall stations, with an annual average of over 11,400 mm/year (another site, Cropp Gorge, down-river at 860m ASL, averages about 10,500mm/year). There are certainly some wetter spots with no firm data yet - parts of the Cleddau valley near Milford have an estimated rainfall above 13,000mm, and it is possible that averages up to 16,000mm could be reached in some locations west of the Alps. Cropp Waterfall holds most of the NZ rainfall records:

134mm in 1 hour (2300-2400 on 8 Jan 2004)
758mm in 24 hours (from 0620 on 27 Dec 1989)
1049mm in 48 hours (from 1542 on 11 Dec 1995)
2927mm in a calendar month (Dec 1995)
16,617mm in a calendar year (1998)
18,405mm in 365 days (from 0348 on 30/10/1997)

{The 12-hour record is 566mm at Prices Flat, Hokitika catchment}.

2011 was a comparatively dry year in the southern half of Westland, and in Fiordland.
After a fairly wet start the period June-September was comparatively dry, and December was also much drier than normal.

2011 rainfall:  9493mm (January 1386mm, August 335mm).
Longest run of dry hours: 185
Longest run of hours recording rainfall: 41

Highest daily rainfall: 360mm on December 14 ( max. 24-hour fall 371mm).

Days with 0.5mm+:    232
Days with 1.0mm+:    210
Days with 10.0mm+:  126
Days with 25.0mm+:    91
Days with 100.0mm+:  34
Days with 250.0mm+:    4

7-day totals:   max 664.5mm, min 0mm
14-day totals: max 1008.5mm, min 8mm

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[Deano]

Thanks for that. Impressive rainfall figures.