Storms approaching Gisborne at the tail end of December. Photo: RNZ / Maia Ingoe
Gisborne has shivered through its coldest January in about 35 years, with an average temperature of just 16.3 degrees.
It has resulted in a drop of tourists to the region and created challenging growing conditions for the horticulture and viticulture sectors.
Mayor Rehette Stolz told RNZ the cooler temperatures had had a direct impact.
"For us it's been tough, for businesses it's been tough because we have not seen the numbers we are used to."
The cooler weather was caused by a number of southerly systems, MetService meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane said.
"The unusual thing was the persistent nature of those southerliees - we had a low pressure system just east of [the] country and then high pressure sometimes to [the] west of us, sometimes to [the] south - but combined circulation around these two systems meant the eastern parts of [the] country and lower North Island saw these persistent southerly winds which brought days of cooler temperatures."
While the region's typically hot, sunny climate was usually perfect for its many vineyards, Gisborne Winegrowers chair Mark Thompson said this season had been anything but.
In December, nearly half the annual rainfall fell in just one month, and that - combined with low temperatures - had increased the pressure of disease for vineyards, he said.
"So things like powdery mildew and downy mildew, it also affects getting sprays on to combat those as well as trimming - which means sprays can get in and be more effective.
"Not being able to get into your vineyard because it's too wet, it certainly is not a great scenario to be in, but we're from Gisborne and we've learnt to deal with fairly wet seasons in the past."
Mayor Rehette Stoltz says visitor numbers have been down in Gisborne over January. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Growers were now hoping for a couple of months of northwesterly winds, Thompson said.
Fruit and vege company Leaderbrand had a challenging month too. Its Gisborne farm manager Gordon McPhail said the weather caused problems for planting programmes.
"We've seen crops fall behind by up to two weeks depending what crops they are."
Although the sun had finally come out, growers were not quite out of the woods, he said.
"The weather now is starting to come right, starting to see bit more normality but we're certainly going to see the impact of this over the next two weeks before current weather takes effect and brings things back into line."
Stoltz was also crossing her fingers for finer days ahead.
"We are hoping and praying the bad weather is behind us. We are looking forward to a spectacular February and March when we can welcome visitors into our place to enjoy the East Coast sunshine," she said.
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