Rainfall recorded in Rarotonga last week from April 7 to 12 was 135 millimetres, exceeding March’s monthly total of 119mm.

Cook Islands Meteorological Service director Maara Vaiimene said last week alone “recorded more than March’s total monthly rainfall in a space of seven days”.

In the northern group, Penrhyn weather station recorded 79mm of rainfall up to Friday last week with Manihiki recording 68mm.

An active trough was slowly moving further south away from Rarotonga and the Southern Cook Islands, with rain becoming less frequent, Vaiimene said.

The expected forecast is mostly cloudy with some showers.

Rarotonga experienced heavy downpour last week due to an active cloud band moving from Samoa towards the Southern Cook Islands.

A slow-moving high-pressure system from New Zealand south of the Southern Cooks prevented the cloud band from continuing east, Vaiimene told Cook Islands News last week.

Meanwhile Cook Islands recorded its highest temperature of 33.1 degrees Celsius on March 27. The previous highest temperature was 32.9 degrees Celsius recorded on March 19, 2024.

Cook Islands Meteorological Service operational observer Nathan Tisam earlier stated that during the Easter long weekend, from Good Friday to Easter Monday (March 29 April 1), temperature in Rarotonga was around 28 degrees Celsius through the night and then got up to an average of 32 degrees around midday. However, Tisam said Penrhyn experienced a scorching 33 degrees Celsius at 2pm on April 2.