Half the normal rainfall for March

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

A dismal Easter and wetter last half of the month has eased the dryness of local soils.

Easter Weekend brought patchy wind and rain, but not much of the wet stuff, and March ended with less than half its normal rainfall.

Rainfall totalled  just short of 47 millimetres while the 30-year average is 93mm.

Temperature-wise, the month was just over half a degree cooler in daytime, with an average daily maximum of not quite 22 degrees.

It was a bit cooler at night, too, with an average minimum of 11.3 degrees against the 30-year average of 12.6.

Overall, the mean daily temperature for the month was about a degree colder than usual — 16.6 as against the 30-year mean daily temperature of 17.5.

Clearer skies resulted in more daytime heat being lost overnight and some places might have experienced a touch of frost on a couple of mornings.

The first cold morning on the 7th saw the ground temperature down to 1.9, while the 17th saw it drop to 0.8.

The coldest morning was on the 22nd when the grass minimum was just 0.1 above freezing, and the next morning was also chilly at 1.7.

The clear skies saw sunshine hours up a little — between 205 to 210 hours as against the 30-year average of 193.

The latest drought assessment from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) shows the inland hill country is fine for soil moisture.

The driest areas are the very top of East Cape while the coastal strip down to Gisborne and Māhia is 20 to 30mm drier than normal.

The moisture deficit for Gisborne has eased with the wetter last half of March and now stands at just over 100mm.