A RETURN to warm northerly conditions overnight meant no frost this morning. This was in contrast to the previous two mornings, which delivered glazed windscreens courtesy of the hardest frosts of winter so far.
Sunday morning saw the air temperature plummet to just 1 degree while the grass minimum was
a crunchy minus 4. Yesterday morning Jack Frost’s touch was a little chillier, with an air temperature of zero and a grass minimum of -4.2. The switch from southerly to warm northerlies and a much lower humidity level saw Mr Frost deliver a relatively mild low of 7 this morning.
Longer-term outlooks have been issued by the MetService and National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, offering the prospect of more rain for the Gisborne-East Coast district, which, combined with the warmer conditions, should please most in the agriculture sector.
The first delivery of rain arrives at the end of this week and some heavy falls are expected on Friday and Saturday. MetService meteorologist Georgina Griffiths says for the rest of July, rain-makers born in the Tasman Sea are expected to produce above-normal rainfall for the north and east of the North Island, with much of the weather arriving from the north.
Niwa’s outlook to the end of September says that with El Nino gone, current conditions indicate a transition to La Nina over the next three months. The Niwa seasonal outlook is for temperatures to stay higher than normal, with a 70 percent chance of above-average warmth.
