Downpours 'no drought breaker'

File photo / Richard Robinson

Short bursts of heavy showers splashed some parched farmland for the first time in months yesterday, but forecasters and frustrated farmers say they will do little to break droughts.

Auckland had a brief downpour overnight and Northland received isolated showers yesterday. In Kaitaia, where drought has been declared after a brutal summer, a weather station recorded 18mm of rainfall.

But a solid rain band that could have drenched Northland broke apart and no rain was recorded overnight.

Federated Farmers' Northland president, Denis Anderson, said most farmers got no rain at all. "It was sparse and scattered. Most around here wouldn't have got close to that 18mm. We need a lot more rain and a good follow up."

The season has cost individual dairy farmers hundreds of thousands of dollars and they are focused on moving on.

"It's certainly just a case of having to cope ... We're basically taking steps that next season will be a good one. We need a season not like this."

The Metservice continues to forecast patchy showers from the Far North to Invercargill today, but it warns that any chance of moisture will be gone by tomorrow.

"It was potluck showers: if you got one it was probably heavy, but if you didn't it was nothing," said forecaster Oliver Druce.

"But it's not like an organised rain band ... it's not a drought breaker or anything."

There is no more rain forecast for the rest of Metservice's five-day forecast. "It's just a matter of waiting and hoping," Mr Druce said.

Expanses of farmland in Central Otago have been left completely brown by the dry summer, and it got no respite from the recent weather.

"Look, I'm in Central Otago now and we've had no rain to speak of ... I haven't heard of anything significant," said Michael Lord, Federated Farmers Otago president.

With temperatures cooling, even a small amount of rain will stay in the ground. But to make a real difference - and get the grass growing - farmers need warm rain followed by warm days. "It's all frustrating," Mr Lord said.

But the scattered showers signalled some good news to come, said Weatherwatch.co.nz analyst Philip Duncan.

They had been caused by a low pressure system forming in the Tasman Sea, showing the constant cycle of highs that led to the drought was being broken, Mr Duncan said.

Mr Duncan pointed out Northland had been hit with severe drought after severe flooding repeatedly during the past few years.

"Northland's had a very rough time over the past decade ... Maybe Northland is showing signs of what the global warming people are warning us of, which is more extremes."

But it would be a long time before it could be shown whether it was a run of localised bad luck or part of a global phenomenon, Mr Duncan said.