As the climate changes we expect the region to experience more intense and frequent droughts.
The drought risk indicator is intended to empower and support farmers to make decisions early and inform planning.
The tool gathers data on rainfall, soil temperature, soil moisture, and potential evapotranspiration together from Hawke's Bay Regional Council's 50 rainfall sites and climate stations around the region.
This tool is not intended to supplement weather forecasts. Go to MetService or NIWA for weather forecasts.
Note: Turn on location settings on your computer/device to show data at your location.
As the climate changes we expect the region to experience more intense and frequent droughts.
The drought risk indicator is intended to empower and support farmers to make decisions early and inform planning.
The tool gathers data on rainfall, soil temperature, soil moisture, and potential evapotranspiration together from Hawke's Bay Regional Council's 50 rainfall sites and climate stations around the region.
This tool is not intended to supplement weather forecasts. Go to MetService or NIWA for weather forecasts.
Note: Turn on location settings on your computer/device to show data at your location.
The black line on the gauge indicates the status of conditions in the area of interest. The areas are based on the region's main catchments or a combination of catchments. These are:
The status is determined by a scoring system that considers the number of sites area-wide with consecutive months of below normal rainfall (i.e. <80% of the long term average), the numbers of climate sites with soil moisture levels below median levels and the number of sites with below average rainfall accumulations. It doesn't include PET accumulations in the scoring.
The scoring is weighted heavily to the months of below normal rainfall. It largely determines in which sector the status line lies, while soil moisture and rainfall accumulations determine how far it extends into a sector.
Each sector of the gauge has a value equal to one so the greatest total that can be scored is three.
Monthly rainfall
Soil Moisture
Rainfall Accumulation
An example is a worst case scenario: three or more consecutive months of below normal rainfall (2 points), most soil moisture sites in the lowest 10th percentile (0.6 points) and most sites with rainfall accumulations for the current hydrological year in the lowest 10th percentile (0.4 points). Summing up the points gives 2 + 0.6 + 0.4 = 3.
© 2024 Hawke's Bay Regional Council
Every endeavour has been taken by Hawke's Bay Regional Council to ensure that the information on this website is accurate and up to date. Hawke's Bay Regional Council [the Regional Council] shall not be liable for any loss suffered through the use, directly or indirectly, of information on this website. Persons requiring information in relation to a specific query should contact the Regional Council directly. Information contained has been assembled in good faith.
Some of the information available in this site is from the New Zealand Public domain and supplied by relevant government agencies. the Regional Council cannot accept any liability for its accuracy or content. Where possible we have tried to provide links to these government agencies for further reading.
Provision of data and information
1. Hawke's Bay Regional Council reserves the right to change the content and/or presentation of any data at its sole discretion, including these notes and disclaimer. Use of this data is subject to these disclaimers and exclusions and by using the data the user is signifying his or her agreement to be bound by these exclusions and disclaimers.
2. These disclaimers and exclusions shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of New Zealand. If any provision of these disclaimers and exclusions shall be unlawful, void or for any reason unenforceable, that provision shall be deemed severable and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of the remaining provisions.
3. Real-time data available on the Hawke's Bay Regional Council web site are provisional, and have not been reviewed. These data may be reviewed and altered at any time, without notice.
4. Data are collected and provided according to current best practices, which may change over time. Data that is currently collected may not be collected in the future.
5. Hawke's Bay Regional Council provides this information in good faith. However, the Council does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the data or warrant that the data is appropriate or suitable for the use to which it may be put by third parties. Any person using the data does so at their own risk.
6. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, neither Hawke's Bay Regional Council nor any of its members, officers, associates, consultants, employees, affiliates, servants, agents or other representatives shall be liable for loss or damage arising out of, or in connection with, the use of, or the inability to use, the information contained in data and/or electronic files including, but not limited to, indirect or consequential loss or damages, loss of data, income, profit, or opportunity, loss of, or damage to, property and claims of third parties, even if Hawke's Bay Regional Council has been advised of the possibility of such loss or damages, or such loss or damages were reasonably foreseeable.
7. The Council accepts no responsibility for any loss, damage, or injury resulting from reliance upon or use of the data, and accepts no liability for actions taken by others based on this data.
8. Any party accessing information from the Council on this website acknowledges that the information is official information for the purpose of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (as amended or replaced) and that the Council is not in trade when providing data.
In the event that a court or tribunal does hold that the Council is in trade when supplying data and the party requesting the information is also in trade, then the Council and the other party agree that the Council will not be subject to any of the mandatory guarantees the Council would otherwise be subject to in the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 (as amended or replaced) or section 9, 12a or 13 of the Fair Trading Act 1986 (as amended or replaced)
Please also refer to the Electronic Transaction Act 2002
Thank you to Hawke's Bay Regional Council climate scientist Dr Kathleen Kozyniak for designing the prototype for this drought indicator, and to WebShed director Lee Tong for developing it as a web app.
Thank you to the following organisations for their support and contribution: