By ANNE BESTON
Frustrated biosecurity officials are watching their multimillion-dollar aerial campaign clock up costs of $90,000 without a drop of insecticide being sprayed.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's $90 million attack against painted apple moth has now been grounded by bad weather for nine days at a cost of $10,000
a day.
A light plane, twin-engined helicopter and Fokker Friendship aircraft are standing by as the ministry and private contractor AgriQuality wait for a break in Auckland's fickle weather.
MAF operations manager Ian Gear expressed frustration yesterday but remained upbeat about the prospects of getting underway, despite forecasts of strong westerlies until Christmas.
"Even the weather man doesn't always get them right," he said.
The operation, blitzing between 8000ha and 12,000ha of West Auckland suburbs and 40,000 households with the insecticide Foray 48B, or Btk, needs two consecutive fine days with light winds to get off the ground.
Georgina Griffiths, a National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research climatologist, said a weak to moderate El Nino weather pattern had settled over New Zealand and was likely to bring strong westerly winds to most of the North Island until Christmas.
For holidaymakers this summer is shaping up to be warmer than normal. While Niwa's latest forecast does not go further out than Christmas, Ms Griffiths said in other years when El Nino had been present there had been drier-than-normal conditions.
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