Rain caused many delays at the 2023 ASB Classic tennis tournament in Auckland. Photo / Fiona Goodall, Getty Images
Rain caused many delays at the 2023 ASB Classic tennis tournament in Auckland. Photo / Fiona Goodall, Getty Images
Editorial
EDITORIAL
According to a Google tool, use of the word “damp” peaked in literature around 1880 and declined to a trough in 1979 before steadily rising in use again.
One might expect any future book set in the northern parts of New Zealand during the summer of 2022-23might show a vast uptake. Damp, it most certainly has been.
NIWA maps have consistently shown the soil in the northern regions of New Zealand in blue for “wetter than normal” over the past weeks. Cyclone Hale then threw an emphatic blast of rain on to the end of weeks of drizzle, showers, and thunderous downpours. As Hale moved away from the country, it had one last sting, with rain once more pounding Waikato, Waitomo, Coromandel and Auckland.
The good news is, MetService expects this weekend to be more settled as a high pressure system moves overhead and fine conditions are anticipated to stick around most of next week. Sod’s law holds, of course, and many of us will be back under fluorescent lights at work as the sun finally emerges.
As with most things in life, however, whenever some people lose out, others gain. In the South Island, the West Coast has been basking in splendid sunshine this summer. Queenstown and surrounding areas have been put on water restrictions due to a lack of rain. Dunedin, Clutha, Strath Taieri, Upper Waitaki and Coastal Waitaki were placed in a restricted fire season yesterday after the same restrictions were put on Otago’s Lakes and Central Zones on Thursday.
