Regional council warns of dry summer

Niwa is predicting a dry summer for Hawke's Bay. Photo / Warren Buckland

Soil moisture levels in Hawke’s Bay, which remained high for a long time after Cyclone Gabrielle, are now dipping below typical levels for this time of year.

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council acting manager science, Dr Kathleen Kozyniak says, “July brought less rainfall than usual for some parts of the region and August was very dry for all areas, receiving less than 50 per cent of average rainfall for the month.

“We are halfway through September and we’ve had less than 5 per cent of the average September total.

”We’ve been highlighting in our monthly reporting that our lengthy run of wet weather would turn to drier than usual weather as the year progressed, and that winds would switch from easterlies to westerlies.

“That decline in soil moisture will only accelerate under a weather pattern dominated by westerly winds, which often bring reduced rainfall to the Bay.”

Niwa reports that the predicted El Niño event occurring in our spring and summer, as well as another climate circulation pattern called the Indian Ocean Dipole indicates a dry summer is on its way, says Dr Kozyniak.

Regional council rural recovery manager Richard Wakelin says ”We encourage farmers to start talking with their advisors about preparing for dry conditions.”

He encourages farmers to use the regional council’s drought app, to prepare and plan for dry conditions.

”The drought indicator tool recommends clear actions for farmers to take according to level of risk. It provides very useful information to allow necessary planning to occur. People can access the app on the regional council’s drought resilience hub and save as an app on a smartphone.”