June could be region's driest on record

Walkers rugged up against the near record-low temperatures. Photo / Paul Taylor

Parts of Hawke's Bay could be coming to the end of one of the region's driest months of June on record despite the flooding and near record-low temperatures in many others parts of the country.

With just six days left, rainfall in many areas from Hastings north is less than half the June average, highlighted by the 17mm at Hawke's Bay Airport just north of Napier, just over one-fifth of the June average of 77mm.

In Hastings the 34mm which had fallen by late yesterday afternoon compared with a June average of 82mm, and at Mahia, with some showers this week, the rainfall for the month was 58mm, compared with a June average of 159mm.

MetService communications meteorologist John Laws said some showers are forecast for the rest of this week, but they won't be bringing much rain, for an area in which rainfall has been below average for most of this year. At Mahia, rainfall for 2015 is about 50 per cent of the January-June average of about 630mm.

Temperatures which reached only about 10C yesterday are expected to warm slightly towards the weekend, with a fine Sunday currently on the radar.

While Northern Hawke's Bay farmers are now looking for significant but not too heavy rainfall, the weather's been kind to winter sports, with Hawke's Bay Rugby Union club rugby manager Gary Macdonald confirming there have been no cancellations or ground closures this season - "not even for training."

He recalled that last year there had been significant rain just before the late-April Easter weekend and other "smattering" of rain throughout the rest of the season, mainly interrupting training rather than matches.