Easterly breeze keeps grower's trade brisk

Roadside fruit and vegetables retailer Bonnie Donnelly. PHOTO / PAUL TAYLOR

A prevalence of easterly breezes seems to be stalling the arrival of a full-on Hawke's Bay summer, according according to forecasters and climate specialists.

But while it's five weeks since the last time the temperature in Napier-Hastings was over 30C, and it's unlikely to reach that height in the next week, it is still predicted to be what climate agency calls Niwa the "near-normal or above-normal" range over the rest of the summer, as is rainfall.

Auckland-based forecaster Chris Bandolino and climate scientist Gregor Macara, of Wellington, were commenting after the release of Niwa's Monthly Climate Summary for December and seasonal climate out look for January-March.

Further details are expected to be released today in the annual national and regional climate summary.

Figures show Hawke's Bay saw little of extremes of climate last month. Perhaps the most significant was Napier's rainfall, with the city's 82mm all falling up to December 18 and being more than a third up on the long-term December average of 59mm.

Further south in Hawke's Bay most rainfall exceeded December averages.

While Napier's mean temperature at 17.8C was marginally above average the mean, just a few kilometres away at Whakatu was just 14.9C, which Mr Bandolino said was well below the December average for that recording station.

"The reason it's been cooler is the easterlies.

"It will have an opportunity to get well into the high 20s this weekend and in the middle of next week," he said.

"It's not as warm as usual, but I would find it hard to believe you (Hawke's Bay) won't get at least a couple of days over 30C later on."

Mr Macara said he wasn't aware of anything "unusual" going-on in Hawke's Bay's climate, although he noted the last time it had hit 30C in Napier-Hastings was on December 7.

"The sea breezes are light, and do knock a few degrees off," he said.

The results, however, appear to have produced an ideal climate for Hawke's Bay's roadside fruit and vegetable stalls despite some weather vagaries.

Paul and Bonnie Donnelly staff a roadside stand on Meeanee Quay, at Westshore, selling a wide range of fruit and vegetables, from strawberries to the surprisingly popular pumpkin, from 8am to 6pm daily, restocking during the day to cater for the steady stream of traffic, a mixture of regulars from around Napier to travellers and tourists.

"It doesn't stop," says Mr Donnelly. "The only day we had off was Christmas Day."

Kirsten and Glenn Wilson sell all their cherries through their more specialised fruit-only Kirsten's Corner, at the intersection of Railway and Longlands roads south of Hastings and consider themselves fortunate not to have suffered through the early December rain, which came at the wrong time for some berry crops elsewhere, creating fruit burst and a loss of fruit.

They've had nine-10 varieties of cherries, progressively coming onto the market as each ripens, but it would have been different had they not had their 2ha under rain covers, without which they would have had a considerable amount of split fruit which wouldn't have been worth grading, and there would have been greater disease pressure.

Some croppers would have suffered from isolated hail, but part of the business planning is protection from the effects of unwanted weather events, and the balancing of good seasons with the bad, Mr Wilson says.