The only area to get some relief from the passing rain band of the last few days was the very top of the region. The steep hill country of East Cape was soaked while the coastal region from Ruatōria to Te Puia Springs received only 40-50mm.
Raukūmara Station, in its inland valley surrounded by steep mountainous country, recorded 212mm over the past week.
Further south, the coastal regions are particularly dry, with southern Hawke’s Bay having only 5 percent of its normal rainfall for the time of year.
The daily climate maps produced by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) show the whole coastal strip from East Cape to the Wairarapa is in the red — drier than normal.
The soil moisture anomaly (the difference from the long-term norm) is 50mm or more.
The highest soil moisture deficit in recent years was a shortfall of 77.5mm in 1994, and a 75mm deficit in 1998.
Apart from those two years, all the other years from 1994 to present have had virtually no soil moisture deficit at this time of year.
Despite the lack of rain, hazy and greyish days have kept the sunshine hours for Gisborne at about average for the time of year.
However, it has been warmer than usual.
For the first half of April, the daytime maximums have averaged almost 21.4 degrees — 1.4 degrees warmer than the 30-year mean (1991-2020).
Overnight temperatures have been up too, pushing the overall daily mean temperature to 16 degrees compared to the 30-year average of 15.1.
MetService’s extended outlook through to the 24th offers no rain for the Gisborne area, apart from a few showers on Saturday.
