No record dry February after rain cell

This image from MetService’s weather radar at Mahia shows Monday’s heavier rain as a blue blob within the yellow shower cloud of the front crossing to the south-east.

Gisborne’s dry soils gained a reprieve on Monday from a one-hour burst of rain that pulled the Flats and coastal area from the brink of drought.

While some rain was predicted over Sunday and Monday, it was an unexpected rain cell that delivered relief between 5pm and 6pm on Monday.

Up to Sunday, Gisborne’s airport rain gauge had recorded just 0.6mm for the entire month.

The driest February for Gisborne since records started back in the 1870’s was 2.8mm in 1946.

A front associated with a low was forecast to move across the district and away to the east with a heavy rain watch for eastern Bay of Plenty.

However, a denser blob of moisture — a rain cell — developed within the front and delivered a much-needed, albeit brief, soaking on Monday.

MetService’s airport instruments show a welcome 10 millimetres came down in one hour, bringing Monday’s total to 17.7mm.

This has rescued the Poverty Bay Flats and surrounding countryside from a new record dry, with the month’s rain total standing at 22.7mm as of yesterday.

The soil moisture deficit has been reduced to something around 110mm —- about right for the time of year.

The northern end of the region has also had a reprieve.

The coast and mountainous area of the top of East Cape down to Te Puia Springs has had between 50 and 100mm over the past few days — a relief after being noted as one of the North Island’s dryness “hotspots”, along with the Gisborne coastal strip.