Dunedin might have been the driest and coolest of New Zealand's main centres for October but it also recorded its most extreme one-day rainfall.
Easterly events during October produced a wet and cloudy month for most regions and a cooler month for the east coast of the South Island, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) climate scientist Georgina Griffiths said.
This led to extremely high rainfall totals in parts of the Lakes District and Central Otago, she said.
It also resulted in Dunedin receiving its highest one day rainfall of 55mm at Musselburgh on the 18th, while Ranfurly recorded its fourth-highest with 27mm.
Heavy rain on the 18th caused surface flooding and slips around Dunedin and Oamaru.
That rainfall also contributed to an above normal (125%) rainfall total of 89mm for the city but it still did not meet the high falls experienced in other centres such as Christchurch's 91mm (187% of normal) or Hamilton's 149mm (156%).
Tara Hills recorded its third-highest rainfall of 99mm (206% of normal) and Cromwell its fourth-highest with 67mm (171%), while Balclutha recorded its fourth lowest with 30mm (44%).
The city's mean temperature was 10.9degC, near average and just below Christchurch's 11.3degC and Wellington's 12.2degC. The country's average for October was 12.4degC.
Despite the cloud contributing to record low sunshine hours in Christchurch and Wellington, Dunedin received 169 hours, 116% of normal.
Records were also nearly broken on the 24th when high winds hit the region. Tara Hills recorded extreme gusts of 98kmh, Queenstown 109kmh and Lauder 119kmh. It was an eventful month for Tara Hills which also recorded its fourth-lowest temperature of -5degC - the country's lowest for October.
