No early end to drought say experts

 

Recent rain has done little to ease the drought conditions  gripping Northland – and there is no early end in sight, with no significant rain forecast for the rest of this month. 

Alan Bee, a Hydrology Monitoring Officer for the Northland Regional Council, says an average of about 15 to 20mm rain had fallen across many parts of the region over the past week.

Actual  figures   varied  from   just 2.5mm at  Marsden Pt, through to about 43mm on the Mangamuka Ranges, however, while the recent rain was welcomed by many, realistically the region still needed more than 100mm of rain over several days to make an appreciable difference to soil moisture  levels and river flows.

Mr Bee says southern and western areas of the region, including a significant  part  of the  Kaipara  district, appear to be the worst affected in terms of both soil moisture  (which had fallen  to extreme  levels) and river levels, which were dramatically lower than  normal.  Parts of Northland are drier than they have been for several decades.

The regional council has been working with Northland’s district councils, major industries and consented    water   users   to   keep them informed  of the drought’s progress. A number of restrictions had also been imposed to try to conserve water and meet consent conditions  designed  to protect the environment.  Affected consent  holders range from private individuals taking several  thousand litres a day to some major users taking hundreds of thousands of litres, including  Northland’s district councils and major industries.

Mr   Bee   says   while   weather could   be   unpredictable,  at  this stage the long range  forecast was not anticipating a return  to normally expected conditions until April/May.

A range of drought-related information, including rainfall, river levels and flows, is available from www.nrc.govt.nz/drought.  The website is automatically updated every two hours to provide the most up-to-date information.