The Country 21/03/25: Chris Brandolino talks to Jamie Mackay

We ask NIWA's weather guy to perform his weekly rain dance.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's kick it off with Chris Brandolina. Hello, Chris, and
I hid asking you this every week on a Friday,
But when is it going to rain in the dry pots?

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Yeah, well, let's focus on a little bit of good news, Jamie.
We did have some very welcome rain the past couple
of days over the Tananaki region soils, at least at
the top part of the soils, I'm sure showed a
bit of an uptick in some moisture. But unfortunately it's
not nearly enough, as we all know, and we're probably
not going to see a lot of rain over the
next five days. So we'll start with the next five days.

(00:32):
Across the country. I would say that between now and
when we talk again next Friday, I say deeply of
the much of the North Island a bar say, Hawk's
Bay and Gisban. Much of the North Island, and this
includes the dry areas, probably not going to get ten

(00:52):
millimeters of rain. In fact, will be some areas that
don't get five millimeters of rain over the next say,
five to seven days, so not much improvement there. So
it looks dry over the next four or five six
seven days, very little rainfall. What about beyond that? Look,
if you know, when a couple of weeks ago, it
was certainly more optimistic that late March early April sort

(01:14):
of that you know, that period which joined the two
months we could see some useful rain, some really needed rain.
Something we're double digit rainfall mounts or widespread. Those hopes
were slipping away. I think we're probably going to have
to wait until deeper into autumn before we get you know,
the odds tilt in our favor for some really you know,

(01:35):
proper rain, and that's not good news. I acknowledge. And look,
maybe something will happen where this this rainfall in late
March early April that we've been eye in materializes. But unfortunately,
I'll bet you hazing a steak dinner that I think
the models have been a bit too optimistic, and I
think unfortunately that continues certainly in the short term.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
All Right, well, Chris, anything else to add before we go,
because I know you're not delivering good news, and I
don't want to shoot the messenger, but you better to
be full warned and forearmed.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, this is it. Look, in terms of temperature, we'll
have a good range, it'll be up and down. We'll
have some periods of exceptionally warm weather like this weekend.
Looks like next week we'll get a period of chill temperatures,
probably later in the week. I think, as I said before,
we probably have to wait till May or June for
any like I think proper significant change in the pattern
where something is sustained. And as farmers know, once the

(02:28):
rain does come, and it will come, it does take
a while, so drought may end, but the effects of
drought will persist. So even when the rain does come
eventually we're not out of the woods yet. There still
will be lingering impact. So hopefully things change. I'll certainly
keep the updated, but that's how things are looking.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Now got on you. Then we got Chris Briend Delena
from newa