Change in season comes swiftly

March has been and gone now, and with autumn setting in it has definitely brought with it a noticeable change to Taranaki weather conditions.

Temperatures dropped during March, with North Egmont only reaching a maximum temperature 20.0 degC, and the mean temperature for the month only being 11.6 degC at this site.

The Mangorei at Reservoir site recorded the top temperature for the month of 28.5 degC, while the Tawhiti at Duffys Farm (Whareroa) site recorded the lowest temperature of only 1.0 degC.

Cape Egmont was the warmest site on average, with a mean temperature of 17.7 degC, followed closely by Patea, Mangati and Hillsborough all with 17.6 degC as their mean March temperature. Inglewood proved to be the coldest site overall with a mean March temperature of 16.2 degC.

River temperatures were above normal for the month; however no new records were reached. Soil moisture levels around Taranaki were lower than normal for March, following on from a dry summer; and again no new extremes were reached.

Mean river flows were also lower than normal for March, and a new low flow value of 106 L/s was recorded at the Tawhiti Stream at Duffys Farm site near Whareroa, with the previous March low flow value being 186 L/s.

This stream does have upstream users who abstract water for various uses and are bound by resource consent conditions and limits, however the consent holders were operating within these limits.

Rainfall on average for the region worked out at 112 per cent of normal as a whole, but when looking individually at sites this ranged from 69 per cent of normal at Charlie's Clearing in the upper part of the Waitotara catchment in the Eastern hill-country, to 151 per cent of normal at the Stony River site near Okato.

The Southern areas of Taranaki generally had lower than normal rainfall, while areas around New Plymouth recorded more than normal for the month.

Year-to-date rainfall figures are generally still recovering from a dry start to the year, particularly the record dry January.

Overall for the region, year to date rainfall sites at 72 per cent of normal, however this does range from 47 per cent of normal at the Mangaehu (Huinga) recorder, through to 99 per cent of normal at the Mangorei Reservoir site, and up to 110 per cent of normal at the Stony River site near Okato.