Town runs dry as weather flips

South Westland tourist destination Franz Josef has run out of water, as the country's summer climate is turned upside down.

Many restaurants and tourist attractions were forced to shut their doors yesterday, while most residents and tourists faced a hot evening without showers, flushing toilets or tap water.

A long spell of sunny weather in the district, renowned for its high rainfall, forced Westland District Council to put full water restrictions in place yesterday at Franz Josef Glacier and Ross.

Many of the normal summer magnets have been gloomy and wet in recent weeks, but the sun has shone in the higher latitudes.

While it had been very dry in the lower South Island, it was a different story for most parts of the North Island, with more rain falling - especially in large areas in the middle of the island, where soil was much wetter than usual, according to NIWA.

Phil Journeaux, from MAF Policy, said 50mm to 100mm of rain was needed in Otago and Southland.

While in absolute terms Otago was drier than Southland, it was Southland, where wetter summers were usual, that was relatively worse off due to the more intensive farming systems in the region.

Although the area was not yet in a drought, farmers needed to plan and take action, Journeaux said.

From his discussions, most seemed to be doing that.

NIWA climate scientist Andrew Tait said pretty much the entire North Island and north of the South Island had more soil moisture than normal for this time of year.

"That's well reflected in things such as pasture growth and silage making. Farmers tend to be making good mileage out of the wetter than normal conditions in the North Island."

In contrast, in parts of Southland and Otago soil was much drier than normal, with a drop of 50mm in moisture.

"When you start to get anomalies of 50mm drier than normal, then you're really talking about something unusual," Tait said.

Farmers in the dry areas were saying that although the area looked green, there was no moisture in the top few centimetres of soil where the grass roots were.

"These numbers are particularly dry for that area. That's why people in water management roles and farmers are starting to be a bit concerned, and looking out for some rain."

The La Nina pattern affecting the country did sometimes produce the sort of weather experienced lately. But that was not always the case, and the strong La Nina last summer had not produced the same amount of dryness.

- © Fairfax NZ News