Niwa is predicting a dry summer for Hawke's Bay. Photo / Warren Buckland
Soil moisture levels in Hawke’s Bay, which remained high for a long time after Cyclone Gabrielle, are now dipping below typical levels for this time of year.
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council acting manager science, Dr Kathleen Kozyniak says, “July brought less rainfall than usual for some parts of the region
and August was very dry for all areas, receiving less than 50 per cent of average rainfall for the month.
“We are halfway through September and we’ve had less than 5 per cent of the average September total.
”We’ve been highlighting in our monthly reporting that our lengthy run of wet weather would turn to drier than usual weather as the year progressed, and that winds would switch from easterlies to westerlies.
“That decline in soil moisture will only accelerate under a weather pattern dominated by westerly winds, which often bring reduced rainfall to the Bay.”
