Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Bumper rainfall report for end of Hawke's Bay summer

By Anneke Smith
Reporter·Hawkes Bay Today·
3 Apr, 2018 06:29 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Hawke's Bay Regional Council rainfall report for March 2018. Photo/Supplied.

Hawke's Bay Regional Council rainfall report for March 2018. Photo/Supplied.

The grass really was greener in Hawke's Bay this March with the monthly rainfall report showing the entire region surpassed the average amount of expected rainfall.

Figures in the Hawke's Bay Regional Council's latest rainfall report show Glengarry was the standout area, receiving more than 300 per cent of its average rainfall after the region was swamped with rain on the 30th anniversary of Cyclone Bola.

Heavy rain and thunder storms lashed Hawke's Bay on March 8, closing the Napier-Taupo highway and flooding the Eskdale area north of Napier.

The deluge bumped the region's monthly rainfall to 126 per cent of the average, while areas such as Tangoio clocked 160 per cent of the average rainfall.

There were just 32 lightning strikes, from cloud to ground, for the month.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Hawke's Bay Regional Council climate scientist Dr Kathleen Kozyniak said the weather feature meant a wet end to the summer.

"I think to a certain extent with those ex-tropical cyclones we missed out on the worst of those but there's just a general pattern of weather where they are having an influence, particularly in the northern areas which have got quite a bit of out the weather patterns in place."

While weather features had targeted specific areas no one in the region had gone without enough rainfall, Dr Kozyniak said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"The main feature was that huge downpour which was reasonable isolated around the Glengarry/Eskdale area. That was the standout where they had about 300mm in 24 hours which is a lot for places here in Hawke's Bay."

The climate scientist said while summer was over the weather patterns were here to stay.

"The thing is that pattern is not changing. For the next three months ahead that pattern remains the same essentially. The weather will be similar, we're not expecting below average rainfall so either normal or above normal."

Federated Farmers Hawkes Bay president Will Foley said farmers were well-positioned for autumn as a result of the "kind summer".

"We've obviously come off a pretty good summer where most of the country stayed relatively green throughout the summer which is unusual for Hawke's Bay. We didn't have that very dry start which we quite often have so farmers are in a good position going into autumn."

Despite several downpours last month farmers still wanted more rain, he said.

"It was almost too much, a lot of that would have run off, and we haven't had much since so I'd say all that is on farmers' wish lists at the moment is a bit of rain to keep things moving while we've still got warm temperatures."

Hawke's Bay Fruitgrowers Association president Lesley Wilson said growers had been happy with what was ideal harvesting weather this season.

"The weather we've been having at the moment is absolutely fantastic for harvesting. The fruit size is also a lot bigger this year and there's a lot more fruit on the trees so the growers are pretty happy with all of that."

Hawke's Bay Winegrowers deputy chairman Xan Harding said grape growers were in the final quarter of harvesting and enjoying settled weather.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said reports from those affected by last month's deluge were that affected areas had dried out quickly and grapes were able to be harvested as usual.

"As ever there's individuals who have struggled a little bit with March weather but from a big picture point of view it was an early season, we had a good early start to the season with some challenges in the middle of it and the end of the season has been fantastic so it bodes well for some great wines out of Hawke's Bay."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

'Can’t imagine the pain': Napier teen's death shakes community

13 May 04:04 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

A career in sheep dog trials - 40 years, 12 titles

13 May 03:47 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

‘His presence lifted others’: Tributes flow for young Napier rugby star as homicide probe continues

13 May 12:53 AM

One tiny baby’s fight to survive

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

'Can’t imagine the pain': Napier teen's death shakes community

'Can’t imagine the pain': Napier teen's death shakes community

13 May 04:04 AM

'Parents should never have to bury their children. It is just so sad.'

A career in sheep dog trials - 40 years, 12 titles

A career in sheep dog trials - 40 years, 12 titles

13 May 03:47 AM
‘His presence lifted others’: Tributes flow for young Napier rugby star as homicide probe continues

‘His presence lifted others’: Tributes flow for young Napier rugby star as homicide probe continues

13 May 12:53 AM
Watch: Humpback whale wows fishermen in 5-metre boat

Watch: Humpback whale wows fishermen in 5-metre boat

12 May 10:47 PM
Connected workers are safer workers 
sponsored

Connected workers are safer workers 

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP