The impact of Queen's Birthday weekend rain on the Hawke's Bay drought is a bit like the result in a close election. It's too early to call, and it still needs a rainmaker.
That's the verdict for farmers after rainfall at several places on the Heretaunga Plains had in less than 48 hours been the equivalent of more than half the average for June, after seven months straight of well-below average rain.
According to Hawke's Bay Regional Council figures from almost 70 recording stations from Urewera country in northern Hawke's Bay to the southern CHB coast, the heaviest rain since Friday came at Park's Peak Hut in the ranges west of Hastings, with 157.5mm (more than 6 inches in imperial measure), and just to the north at Te Koau, where there was 141mm.
There were also falls of over 120mm near the coast east of Waipukurau and Waipawa but Heretaunga or Ruataniwha plains' sites generally had less than 60mm, and at isolated usual rainfall-topping locations such a Pukeorapa, inland from Nuhaka.
But while more is needed, farmers such as Federated Farmers Hawke's Bay president Jim Galloway said that with more than 50mm of rain in two days and a warm Tuesday afternoon it couldn't be better.