Drought fears raised as winter drier than usual

Dennis Hanley, of Taradale, was not letting a bit of wet weather stop him from pulling about half a kilogram of whitebait out of the Tukituki River at Haumoana, near Hastings, yesterday. Photo / Duncan Brown

Hawke's Bay might not have been particularly sunny yesterday but the region is still thirsting for rain to thwart a possible major drought in parts of the region during summer.

Figures show rainfall from Hastings to Northern Hawke's Bay has been well below average in nine of the past 12 months and the trend continued in August.

MetService figures show Napier had 33.8mm, compared with an August average of 56mm, Hastings had 44.4mm compared with the August average of 82mm, and Mahia had 61.4mm, compared with the August average of 121mm.

All three had no rain at all on 17 days of the month, less than 1mm on four other days, and 1-2mm on another four, and the only daily falls over 10mm were at Mahia with 23mm on August 11, and 14.8mm four days later.

In the year to date, Napier has had about 330mm, compared with the January-August average of about 570mm, Hastings has had just over 380mm, compared with the average of 570mm, and Mahia has had 526mm, compared with the January-August average of about 940mm.

Central Hawke's Bay has been much better served. While the past month's rainfall was marginally below the August average, the Takapau Plains weather station has recorded 650mm of rain this year, compared with the January-August average of just under 620mm.

There was steady rain throughout Hawke's Bay yesterday. Up to 11mm fell in Hastings by late afternoon, 8.6mm in Napier, 3.4mm at Mahia. 10.6mm on the Takapau Plains, and 2.4mm at Dannevirke.

The biggest relief for farmers appeared to be northwest of Napier, where 33.6mm was recorded at Te Pohue, said MetService duty meteorologist.

Te Pohue farmer Stu McNeill, manager of Rimu Station, said there had been rain in the area since Sunday. "Probably more than a couple of inches [over 50mm], which would probably be the first time this year we've had as much.

"It's been very dry, some of the senior farmers here reckon it's the driest they've seen it," he said, hoping for more rain over the next week.

"We certainly need it."