Rain a relief after heat of the past week

Umbrellas were out in force again in Gisborne yesterday during the downpour. File picture

Welcome rain has provided relief from the heat of the past week and drying of soils and vegetation in the Gisborne-East Coast region.

A front moving across the North Island  delivered the heaviest falls to eastern Bay of Plenty.

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council gauge at Haparapara in the high country inland from Te Kaha recorded 83 millimetres in the 24 hours to 9am yesterday.

The top of East Cape received between 70 and 80mm in the same period.

New Zealand Transport Agency/Waka Kotahi showed no roading damage on its website, but the rain would have brought a temporary halt to repair and resurfacing work going on at many sites around the district.

In the Gisborne area, rainfall totals were much lower as the bulk of the rain and the threat of thunderstorms passed to the north.

Most of the region south of Ruatōria saw 24-hour totals of between 10 and 20mm, while the district council’s Wharerata rain gauge totalled 42mm in the 24 hours to 9am yesterday.

The rain was welcomed by those in agriculture, as parched soils got only 5mm of moisture over the first half of the month.

Meanwhile, the change in weather resulted in a big drop in temperatures, as the tap of hot and humid airflow from the sub-tropics was turned off. From figures close to 30 degrees, thermometers at mid-morning yesterday were reading a much more comfortable 18.