Still a dry month despite wet end

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

Five days has made all the difference to what was shaping up to be a near-record dry month for Gisborne.

Up to February 24, the Gisborne Airport gauge recorded just 0.6 millimitres but a wet end to the month pushed the total to 32.7mm.

However, it was still a dry month with less than half its usual rainfall — the 30-year average for February (1991-2020) being 68mm.

The final arrival of rain did not make much of a difference to the soil moisture deficit. The moisture deficit stood at around 130mm when the rain arrived, but as of yesterday, it had only been reduced to a deficit of 113mm.

One encouraging sign might be a swing to more northerly conditions, with nine days of north-west winds. The  month saw 16 days of winds from the north/north-west sector, and 13 days of winds from the south and east.

The clear skies of the first 24 days of the month bumped up the amount of sunshine.

Despite the rain and cloud of the month’s end, February ended up totalling around 250 hours of sun — about 45 more hours of sunshine than the 30-year average.

The outlook for the district’s weather in the months ahead depends on what develops in the wake of the present weakening El Nino.

The world’s major climate agencies have the jury still out on whether neutral conditions will follow, or whether we will see the return of a La NIna.

For this region, a La Nina usually means warmer, wetter weather.