the state of our environment | September 2013

It’s been a promising start to spring with plenty of moisture in the ground and in our waterways as we strike what are typically our drier months of the year. September last year kicked off an entire spring, summer and autumn of low rainfall so it’s good to notch up at least one month of widespread substantial rain – though hopefully it doesn’t herald a big swing the other way. All parts of the region received above normal rainfall in about equal measure and all our rivers are in positive territory compared to normal flows. Apart from a couple of nippy mornings, strong nor’westers kept temperatures mild and late frosts at bay. In a pretty convincing attempt to blow all of us into the bay, average wind speeds hit strong gale (83 km/hr) and gusts ripped through at 165 km/hr in parts of the region during the month. So spare a thought for the Chatham Islanders, who by the end of spring will probably have a motley stash of broken pegs, random socks and holey undies that have blown off Hawke’s Bay’s clotheslines.

20131007_HBRC_SOE_September2013.pdf