NZ drought

For those that don't already know the West coast of NZ's South Island is known as the place where it never stops raining

A friend of a friend reported seeing a pohutakawa in flower in Auckland: this normally happens at Christmas time!!

NZ: West Coast close to drought

The West Coast is close to being in an official drought, with almost no rain recorded in the region since the middle of August.

Radio NZ,

9 September, 2014

The MetService said the average monthly rainfall for August in the Hokitika area was about 180 millimetres.

But meteorologist Peter Little said since 15 August, Hokitika has only had 7mm of rain, compared with 110mm during the same period last year and almost 200mm two years ago.

He said there have been a lot of north-easterly and easterly flows over the country which have caused heavy rain in Northland and Auckland, but have sheltered the West Coast and made conditions very dry and sunny.

However, Mr Little said light rain was forecast for Wednesday and Thursday this week, with heavier rain predicted over the weekend.

Fed Farmers says dry spell mixed blessing

Federated Farmers says a 25 day dry spell on the West Coast has brought both positives and negatives for the region's farmers.

Federated Farmers spokesperson Katie Milne said the warm, dry weather meant dairy calves were being born in good conditions, and less supplementary feed was being needed for livestock. But she said frosts and a lack of rainfall were hampering grass growth.

Ms Milne said with rain forecast for later this week, relief was in sight.

Water running low

Wendy Harman lives in the dairy farming Kowhitirangi Valley near Hokitika and depends on rain to fill her water tank.

She said if she had not topped her supply up with some water from her neighbour a few days ago, her tanks would be empty - a situation she tries to avoid.

"Once the tanks run dry then you've got the pumps pumping flat out flat out sucking air, and you get air locks all through the lines, so you just try and nurse it through until you manage to get enough water to tide you over."

Winter weather in New Zealand 

My experience was that it was a much warmer-than-usual July, but the official figures don't quite bear that out

After a record breaking warm June, temperatures remained above average (0.51 to 1.20°C) in many parts of the country at the start of July. This warmth was short lived and a switch to a predominantly south-easterly flow brought cooler conditions to New Zealand which are more typical for this time of year. As a whole, mean temperatures for most parts of the country were in the near average range (within 0.5°C of average) for the month of July. Pockets of below average temperature (-1.20 to -0.51°C) were recorded in the districts of Waitomo and Ruapehu, whereas above average (0.51 to 1.20°C) temperatures were observed in southern Canterbury and Otago. The last day of July was particularly warm for eastern parts of the South Island where the combination of a north-westerly flow and the foehn effect brought the region some mid-winter warmth and set July daily maximum temperature records in several locations. The nation-wide average temperature in July 2014 was 8.2°C (0.3°C above the 1971-2000 July average from NIWA’s seven station temperature series which begins in 1909)[1].

It was an unusually sunny mid-winter winter in the North Island, with well above normal (>125%) or above normal (110-125%) sunshine recorded. The regions of Waikato and Bay of Plenty were particularly sunny with sunshine hours in excess of 125% recorded. Despite the rain in Northland, the region experienced many sunny days with above normal sunshine hours recorded for July as a whole. The South Island was also sunny for the most part with above normal sunshine (110-125%) hours recorded in the regions of Nelson, Marlborough, the West Coast, Otago and parts of Canterbury. Banks Peninsula, coastal Otago, the south coast of Southland and the district of Buller were not as bright and received below normal sunshine (75-89%).

http://www.niwa.co.nz/climate-summary-for-july-2014