Dry July for Hawke's Bay, with half the average rainfall

The dry weather has been good for apple trees, making it easier for them to be pruned. Photo / File

While people gave up alcohol for Dry July last month, it appears the region gave up on rain.

According to The State of the Environment report put out by Hawke's Bay Regional Council, Hawke's Bay had half its average July rainfall.

Wairoa was particularly affected with only 20 per cent of its average rainfall for July.

The regional council's principal scientist of climate and air, Kathleen Kozyniak, joked in the report that rainfall was joining in with "Dry July", in solidarity with those who gave up alcohol.

As well as less rain than normal, the region was slightly hotter than usual for July.

"We had slightly warmer than usual days. I think it was about a degree warmer than usual for July, on average," Kozyniak said.

Farmers and growers are welcoming the change, after a particularly wet June.

A statement from Ministry for Primary Industries, which featured in the report, said the drier weather was allowing farmers and growers to get on with work.

"The drier conditions underfoot allowed farmers to catch up with stock work, and growers to progress with pruning, maintenance and preparation for new plantings on orchards and vineyards."

New Zealand Apples and Pears CEO Alan Pollard said the drier conditions were better for pruning.

"Certainly for apples it doesn't have any effect. It allows us to get on with pruning."

Kozyniak said at this point they are not too concerned about the dry conditions over July, especially given the rain the region has had in the past week.

However they will be keeping a close eye on the weather patterns through spring and summer.

"At this stage, not too concerning," Kozyniak said.

"It's early days yet, it may be El Nino conditions for the spring and summer, so we will be keeping a careful watch on how things go from here."

She said the conditions could be put down to regular weather variations, rather than climate change.

"It was in sort of the normal variation that we can get from winter to winter," Kozyniak said.