Hobart has experienced its driest year on record, according to the Weatherzone website.

The city's total rainfall for 2006 was just 343mm, well below the long-term annual average of 619mm, Weatherzone meteorologist Matt Pearce said today.

This made it driest year on record, with significantly less rain than in the previous driest year, 1979, when 390mm fell.

"The very dry conditions can be largely put down to the El Nino pattern which was in place during the second half of 2006," Mr Pearce said.

"El Nino patterns result in well below normal rainfall across southeast Australia, especially during the spring months.

"However, there could also be some argument put forward that this very dry year is representative of the climate change that is occurring across the globe."

The coming year was likely to both warmer and wetter as the El Nino pattern broke down, Mr Pearce said.

"Temperatures are likely to remain close to or slightly below average through the first few months of the year."