Photo: Supplied
La Nina conditions and background climate change trends combined to create the intense rainfall that devastated North Island communities, climate experts say.
Even before the most recent bout of heavy rain, monthly rainfall to date was sitting at between two to four times the usual amount in Northland, the Coromandel, East Cape and Gisborne.
Dr Kevin Trenberth, a distinguished scholar at the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research and an affiliate of the University of Auckland physics department, said sea surface temperatures globally had steadily in
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