Splashing on to hot summer
Rainfall too regular even for farmers in ultra-damp winter
Many in Taupō have noticed their wetweather gear was well used this winter. For Bevan Choat, Taupō ’s resident weather expert, that was not surprising.
He says the area has just seen the second-wettest winter since his records began.
Spring has been off to a wet start, too.
Bevan notes that the average rainfall for October is 95.8mm, “and we’ve already had 91mm”. He says we might even exceed that average by the end of this week.
Given that Bevan has been collecting weather data for Taupō since 1968, he knows a thing or two about the region’s weather patterns.
He says that “the seasons have changed quite dramatically” since he began measuring the rain, wind and cloud cover in Taupō 54 years ago.
In that time, he’s seen four occasions when snow has fallen to the lake’s edge, but recent winters have seen more rain and higher temperatures than previous years.
It’s not only Taupō ‘s residents that have been pulling on their gumboots more often.
The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) reports that the winter of 2022 was New Zealand’s warmest and wettest on record.
This is the third year in a row that temperatures have climbed to record levels, and 42 locations had a record or near-record amount of winter rainfall.
The unusually wet weather has had an impact on a range of local businesses and services. At Tūroa, more rain than snow has seen a patchy season draw to a close this week.
Jen Long at Misfit Garden says farms have also been badly affected.
She says their farmers, who are spread across the North Island, are “pretty exasperated” with the frequent deluges, which have meant that soil has been too saturated to plant seeds and existing seedlings have been washed away.
The situation leads to confusion, with farmers often unable to deliver consistently each week.
Jen’s farmers “will say ‘yep, we have broccoli’, but the next day they’ll call and say ‘it’s all underwater’.”
They’ve also been seeing more produce being turned away by supermarkets due to cosmetic damage from rain, such as yellow leaves.
Less stock has also meant higher prices for those buying their fruit and veges.
However, there may be good news on the horizon.
Bevan thinks that better weather could be on the way.
“It depends on what happens with La Nin˜a,” he says, but “we could be in for a very dry, hot summer”.