Coastal Otago still dry despite rain, some with less than a third of monthly rainfall

Coastal areas of Otago, particularly Oamaru and Dunedin, are still very dry, having had less than a third of their average May rainfall. Photo / 123RF

All is not what it seems, Niwa meteorologist Ben Noll says.

While Otago and Southland appear to have had quite a lot of wet weather over the past two weeks, Noll said it was still not enough to break the dry spell across the southern regions.

He said coastal areas of Otago, particularly Oamaru and Dunedin, were still very dry, having had less than a third of their average May rainfall.

"Dunedin [Musselburgh] has had just 21mm so far this month. The average for the month is 65mm."

Oamaru had only received 31 per cent of its average rainfall this month, and Balclutha had recorded 43 per cent of its average.

The largest rainfall of the month for Dunedin so far was on May 11, when 18.2mm fell.

In Oamaru, the largest fall was on May 13, when 15.4mm fell.

They were the highest amounts of rain to fall in the areas in more than five months.

"Eastern Otago is not doing so well," he said.

"I look down to a place like Gore and inland Otago, and I see they're doing a little better with 61 per cent, up to 71 per cent in Queenstown.

"But they're still well below average, so my take on it is we're going to need a lot more rain than what we've had, to break this dry spell.

"Every little bit helps, but we need a lot more."

Noll believed the recent rain may have stood out in the minds of most people because it had otherwise been so dry.

"The perception is that it's been pretty wet, but in reality that's still less than normal for this time of year.

"Because it hasn't rained much lately, it's made an impact on people's minds."

The dry weather has damaged winter crops across the region, and many farmers have said management of their winter feeds would be tight this year.

They are taking the bare minimum of stock through the winter to make sure they have enough feed to go around, and some are also buying in extra feed such as grains and sheep nuts.