Battle of the Sunshine States (Video)
The town of Whakatane is up in arms over losing the sunshine capital title to Blenheim the wine growing region in the South Island.
Initial results showed Whakatane had 2703 hours of sunshine last year – almost 200 hours more than Blenheim But staff at NIWA (National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research – Taihoro Nukurangi) were surprised at the high level of sunshine recorded in the Bay of Plenty town and are conducting extra tests to check that the figures are correct. NIWA says Whakatane usually averages about 2400 hours of sun.
The problem occurred because the sunshine-o-meter being used to make the measurement was not owned by NIWA but by the city itself. So NIWA owned second monitor has been installed there to record sunshine levels and compare them with the original results. The testing will take a month. Mayor Colin Holmes says he is quietly confident Whakatane will hold on to the title of sunniest town.
2008 numbers as they stand:
- Whakatane       2703
- Blenheim          2505
- Nelson             2471
As a comparison there are 8760 hours in a year. You would need to have 225 days of 12 hour sunshine days to get to that number. Also note this number is a measurement of complete sunshine, not partly cloudy days.
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