Today
Has it rained enough in Wellington?
Rain soaked in yesterday, and the ground is still holding it.
Wellington has had 55.5mm of rain in the last 30 days. A normal October here brings 89.3mm, so the ground is roughly where it should be for the time of year.
Rain reaching the roots · 14 days
18 OctToday
Reached the roots
Rain that did not
4 days of 14
Thirty years
Rain in Wellington through a normal year
Across a normal year Wellington gets about 922.3mm of rain, most of it in July (93.9mm) and least in January (53.3mm).
A normal October in Wellington has rain on 16 days. Only 11 of them bring enough to reach a root.
That makes Wellington one of the wetter places this site covers in New Zealand in October — 4th of 8, against Nelson at the wet end (138.7mm) and Christchurch at the dry end (58.8mm).
JanFMAMJJulASOND
Average rainfall by month, 1995–2024
What it means
What that means for what you grow
- Pots and hanging basketsWorst hit, and first to suffer. Very little soil, fully exposed, and nothing to fall back on — in this weather they can empty in a day.
- Salad and leafy vegShallow-rooted and quick to bolt once they run dry. First priority of anything in the ground.
- Beds and bordersA long soak that reaches the roots is worth more than a daily sprinkle, which only wets the surface and is gone by lunchtime.
- Established shrubs and treesFine as they are. They draw from far deeper than a dry spell reaches.