Hawke's Bay shows drastic diversity in November's rainfall

There were winners and losers in Hawke's Bay last month, according to the Hawke's Bay Regional Council's rainfall report for November.

Hawke's Bay Regional Council climate scientist Dr Kathleen Kozyniak said patchy bouts of wet weather had left some people lucky, and others wondering where their share of rain was.

"It was showery so some places got a good dollop while others missed out all together, particularly those in the southern coastal area. So you've got some real winners about the place but other places didn't see much at all."

"There was a reasonable amount of rain in the ranges and, to a certain extent, that's good in terms of the headwaters of some of the rivers, probably more the northern ones."

Southern Hawke's Bay was by far the worst off in the region; rainfall totalling 25 per cent of the monthly average for November and the Maraetotara area getting just 6mm.

Meanwhile the likes of Waikaremoana and the Kaweka had received well over their average amount; totalling 120mm and 126mm per cent of the average amount respectively.

Dr Kozyniak said rainfall reports from previous months had reflected switching conditions in both northern and southern Hawke's Bay.

"In September the northern part [of Hawke's Bay] was very wet and the southern part was very dry. In October the southern part was wet and the northern part was dry.

"This time it's more of an east-west thing where it's very dry by the coast and wet inland. It keeps flipping and turning itself around."

November temperatures were fairly normal; the average daytime maximum reaching 18.4 degrees with an overnight figure slightly above normal at 9.6 degrees.

Federated Farmers Hawke's Bay president Will Foley said farmers were concerned about the speed at which conditions were drying out and these concerns would only grow if December's rainfall was below average.

"Everyone is in the same boat. Everyone got a wet winter and wet start to spring and now all of the sudden most areas have gone to too wet to too dry way quicker than anyone anticipated."

Hawke's Bay Winegrowers deputy chairman Xan Harding said the localised downpours associated with recent thunderstorms had made it hard to predict vineyard conditions.

"Normally at this time of the year you could predictable say vineyards would in this state or that state but this year you can't generalise. Some have had none or virtually none and others in the space of half a kilometre have had a month's supply."

Hawke's Bay Fruitgrowers Association president Lesley Wilson said fruit size was expected to be very good this year due to the recent warm weather, but growers still wanted more rain.

"This weather is very good for fruit growth. We're enjoying the high temperatures but I'm pretty sure everybody would be irrigating by now. We would like to see some more rain."