the state of our environment | May 2014

May gave us a chance to dry out after a very wet April. We had about half our normal rainfall in both March and May and about double our usual April rainfall, so we probably came out even-steven for autumn. River levels have dropped because of the dry weather but groundwater and soil moisture levels are looking okay for the time of year. May brought us an impressive range of temperatures on the Plains, from a hot 26°C, which was warmer than April’s top temperature, down to a sharp -5°C frost. I’m told frosts herald an end to the white cabbage butterfly, which is great news for our brassicas and for anyone who, like me this autumn, trapped one between lips while panting through a bike ride… admittedly a more pleasant experience than a bee flying into my bike shorts and stinging my inner thigh, but that’s a story for another day. What was very pleasingly absent from the air last month was a hefty load of fine particulates. It’s the first May we haven’t notched up an exceedance of the PM10 standard in Hastings since we began continuous monitoring. Well done Hastings!

20140606_HBRC_SOE_May2014.pdf