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Hawke’s Bay drought Sep 2006 to June 2007
The main rain event of the month was from the 5th to 7th when a
tropical Low moved from Fiji to the Kermadecs and an accompanying
rainband stalled over the Far North. Kaikohe had 172 mm in two
days (27 mm/hr between 3am and 4am on the 7th). Flooding
took out the bridge at Te Koa, isolating around 500 people including
60 tourists.
In March anticyclones lingering northeast of Chatham Islands fed a
humid easterly fl ow onto northern districts.
On the evening of the 13th, lightning and squalls brought minor
damage to Auckland and cut power for three hours to Kapiti. On the
14th, a low pressure system deepened to 980 hPa off Kaikoura
bringing wind damage to Auckland, Kapiti and Wellington. Surface
fl ooding affected Raumati beach and snow settled near Lake Rotoiti.
On 17th and 18th, a series of fronts crossed the country: the
Westport area had surface fl ooding from 40 mm of rain in two
hours; rain triggered a collapse of the rim of the Crater Lake on
Mount Ruapehu and a southerly change in Christchurch was
accompanied by a severe hail storm. On the 21st, a tornado was
reported near Stratford. On 28th and 29th, a very moist northeast
airstream stalled over Northland and brought extreme amounts of
rain: highest two-day totals were at East Whangarei (436 mm) and
Puhipuhi hills (434 mm). The Kaeo River broke its banks, houses
were washed away at Haruru Falls, the approaches to the Kerikeri
store were fl ooded, and slips closed roads and cut off Opua.
On the 30th, the rain band moved southwards and brought heavy
falls to parts of Auckland, Coromandel, the Bay of Plenty and
northern Gisborne. Total insurance payouts for this storm were
$12.5 million
April was generally dry and anticyclonic in New Zealand.
On the 11th, two trampers in Westland were caught by fl ooded
rivers. On the 13th, snow briefl y settled to 300 metres on the hills
around Alexandra and Lumsden, gales affected Auckland and
Southland and wind damaged some avocado trees in the Bay
of Plenty.
Then came the warmest May on record both in Australia and New
Zealand. It was also dry in several northern and eastern areas with
Purerua in the Bay of Islands, Whakatane, Gisborne, Napier, Kaikoura
and Dunedin all reporting rainfall of less than 10mm. The month
was dominated by northwesterly winds.
On the 2nd, a 50mm pre-dawn downpour brought surface fl ooding
to Wellington, and winds damaged a building site in western Bay of
Weather Map for 10 July. A $50.5 million storm. The Low pressure system to
the north and high pressure system to the south pinched the isobars
in-between so that sustained winds reached 100km/hr and gusts reached
180 km/hr between Whangarei and Whitianga.
Plenty. On the 11th, a small tornado lifted a few roofs in and around
Greymouth. On the 15th westerly winds gusted to 59 knots in
Invercargill lifting roofi ng iron, uprooting trees and disrupting power
supplies. On the 23rd, a front brought torrential rain to the Nelson
area and, a few hours later, to the Taranaki area. On the 27th,
westerly winds gusted to 60 knots in Invercargill and 53 knots in
Dunedin.
In June two polar outbreaks brought in an early winter.
The fi rst arrived on the 6th to the 8th knocking over trees and
power poles in the Kaweka ranges, bringing gusts to around 60
knots in Invercargill and at Dunedin Airport and 20 cm of snow to
Clinton. In Southland, power-lines were toppled by combined
effects of snow and wind. In Otago, fi res from arcing power-lines
were fanned by the wind. The second arrived on 21st to the 25th
and its snow closed many roads and airports about inland
NZ KIWIFRUIT JOURNAL JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2008
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