Taranaki is officially – and surprisingly - the sunshine capital of Aotearoa so far this year, taking the title from the normal sun-soaked areas like Marlborough, Bay of Plenty and Hawke’s Bay.
Stats from NIWA show Taranaki has enjoyed 1123 hours of sunshine so far this year.
Compare that with the usual sunshine spots: Bay of Plenty not plentiful enough with 1090 sunshine hours, Marlborough on 1090 and Hawke's Bay with 1058.
"It’s been a pretty sunny start to the year for Aotearoa as a while but in Taranaki in particular, generally we get a lot of westerly winds there we haven't had that we've had a lot of high pressure and settled weather, that's contributed to the sunny skies,” Nava Fedaeff from NIWA said.
"That has contributed to the prevalence of high-pressure systems and a bit more of an easterly wind flow so that’s something that doesn’t favour cloud in Taranaki."
Taranaki's sunshine hours are tallied up at a climate station at New Plymouth's airport, but locals should hold off on boasting for now.
"It’s a little bit early for Taranaki to boast. Just like the turtle and the hare this is a marathon you don’t want to celebrate your win too early. We're not even halfway through 2021 yet so still a few months to go."
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