A meteorologist says this summer will bring many warm beach days for Bay of Plenty residents. Photo / George Novak
A meteorologist says this summer will bring many warm beach days for Bay of Plenty residents. Photo / George Novak
Plenty of "warm, humid, beach days" and "muggy nights" will most likely be in store for the Bay this summer, a meteorologist says.
And there was "good news" for farmers and the agricultural sector who had suffered through some "very dry summers" recently, as soils were currently "sufficiently moist".
Niwameteorologist and forecaster Ben Noll said the Bay of Plenty would most likely have "above-average temperatures" and near-normal rainfall. Dry spells would be interspersed with occasional heavy rainfall.
Federated Farmers Bay of Plenty provincial president Darryl Jensen said farms were in "a very good spot at the moment grass-wise", due to rain in mid-December which had soaked in rather than washed away.
"With these warm temperatures and the moisture we've had, the grass is just going to take off."
Facial eczema was like "a really bad sunburn" that animals could get and if they did, they became "very sensitive to sunlight", Jensen said.
Animals' skin could "blister and peel" similarly to humans when they got sunburnt, he said.
"That's an issue if we have hot, dry temperatures and then rains and then suddenly we get all this rotting vegetation and it's a great medium for eczema spores to grow.
"Most farmers are starting to put a little bit of zinc in their [water] troughs or looking at making precautions going forward to battle the facial eczema."
However, if there was "the odd period of rain over the summer", this would be a "bonus" since the Bay was "prone to summer drys", Jensen said.
University of Waikato chairman in coastal sciences Professor Chris Battershill said "more sunlight hours" meant any seaweed, particularly sea lettuce, would "bloom".
If there was an onshore wind, sea lettuce could blow up on beaches in "quite significant piles" which rotted pretty quickly and produced a raw, stale-egg smell, he said.
It also made fishing "difficult" because lines were not down very far before they got "wrapped up in sea lettuce", which hid the bait.
Mt Cats and Yaks owner Nevan Lancaster, pictured in 2019. Photo / George Novak
Mt Cats and Yaks owner Nevan Lancaster said if the summer had days around 25C with moderate winds then "everything will be good" for sailing, kayaking and paddleboarding.
"Some years La Niña is great if we get a lot of sea breezes but if it brings in those westerly winds then it will be very nice on the Main Beach side but not so comfortable for the Pilot Bay side."
MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris said La Niña was the "sister" of El Niño, which were opposing phases of the El Niño Southern Oscillation.
La Niña was a climate driver that impacted trade winds across the equatorial Pacific Ocean and affected sea-surface temperatures. This had a flow-on effect for weather in Aotearoa, he said.
La Niña could bring warmer overnight temperatures and humid daytime conditions to the Bay this summer due to increased wind flows from the northeast, Ferris said.
The hottest day last year in Tauranga was on January 26, with a temperature of 31.1C. Photo / George Novak
On the weather last year, Ferris said "well above average" yearly mean temperatures were recorded in Tauranga and Whakatāne, with Tauranga's being "very close to record-breaking".
Tauranga's yearly mean temperature was 15.9C and Whakatāne's was 15C, both of which were similar to the last five years, Ferris said.
January 26 was the warmest day last year in Tauranga and Whakatāne, with temperatures of 31.1C and 29.5C respectively.
July 5 was the coldest morning in Tauranga at 1.5C and in Whakatāne it was July 15, with -1C.
June was the wettest month in Tauranga, with a 136mm average rainfall.
However, October was the wettest month in Whakatāne with a 187mm average, which was twice the monthly average, Ferris said.
According to Niwa's seasonal summary, spring 2021 was New Zealand's warmest spring on record, with the Bay of Plenty recording "pockets of well above average temperatures". This meant temperatures were more than 1.20°C above average.
At the end of November, soil moisture levels in the Bay of Plenty were "below normal" according to the same report.
"Near-average" temperatures were recorded in the Bay of Plenty for both winter and autumn last year.
