Ain’t no sunshine . . .

A thunderstorm brews out to sea as a lone surfer walks along the sand in this picture taken by Gisborne Herald photographer Liam Clayton from the Chalet at Wainui.

With more rain in the pipeline for the Gisborne region, it is no surprise the first half of the month has been woefully short on sunshine.

After the first 15 days of June, sunshine at Gisborne totalled a miserable 42 hours.

The latest 30-year average for 1991 to 2020 is 133 hours for the whole month.

The 42 hours for the first half of the month works out as a shortfall of around 37 percent — no sunglasses required.

On the other hand, the persistent blanket of cloud has kept it warmer than usual, particularly at night.

Overnight lows have been running at 8.7 degrees, which is almost 3 degrees warmer than the 30-year average of 5.8.

The daytime temperatures have been a little warmer, too, with the highs running at 15.5 degrees against a 30-year average of 15.3.

As anyone might have guessed, there has been more rain than usual — 74 millimetres so far against a whole month average of 97mm for June.

As has been forewarned, more of the wet stuff is on the way over the next few days.

MetService yesterday issued a heavy rain watch, with the proviso that there was still uncertainty how the incoming weather would develop.

Heavy rain watches were issued for northern areas, including the Bay of Plenty.

For the Gisborne/East Coast region, from Saturday to 11pm on Sunday, the forecast is for periods of heavy rain, with moderate to high confidence it will approach warning criteria, especially about the ranges.

MetService also says thunderstorms are possible over this period.