Farmers struggling with drought conditions have had some respite as up to 30mm of rain fell in parts of Otago on Tuesday night and more is forecast.
Farmers on the Taieri and in Middlemarch got the biggest benefit, as about 20mm fell from 6pm on Tuesday to 10am yesterday.
Dunedin city had the most rain with 27mm.
However, there was little to be joyous about in central and northern parts of Otago. Just 6mm fell in Alexandra and 6.8mm in Oamaru. The parched Upper Clutha region was teased with a sprinkling of 0.2mm. It has had just 2mm of rain this year.
Middlemarch farmer Andrew Templeton said the rain was a good start.
‘‘We've got a couple of hundred hectares of lucerne waiting to come through and I think it popped through overnight,'' Mr Templeton said. ‘‘This has made a difference but if we can get that again, it would be even better. It's got pretty serious the last few weeks, really.''
An Omakau farmer, who preferred not to be named, said they had ‘‘lovely gentle rain'' for about five hours but said their water allocation had been cut to 50% yesterday.
Falls Dam Irrigation Company spokesman Murray Heckler said water sourced from Falls Dam reservoir supplied hundreds of residents. ‘‘The rain makes very little difference at this stage [so] we're just being precautionary,'' Mr Heckler said. ‘‘I imagine it's pretty across the board up here and I imagine most schemes are doing the same sort of thing.''
The water allocation was lowered to 75% in December but could go up again if there was more rain, Mr Heckler said.
Federated Farmers Otago provincial president Phill Hunt said any rain when it was so dry was welcomed.
‘‘It will be a good boost for winter feed crops and morale,'' Mr Hunt said. ‘‘It's more of the same [needed], really.''
More rain was forecast for the region tomorrow, so Mr Hunt hoped water availability for irrigation would be increased, as this was ‘‘critical''.
‘‘Getting winter crops away is going to be a real problem,'' he said. ‘‘[But] there's not much we can do about it, really. We've just got to look after each other.''
Dunedin city councillor Kate Wilson, of Middlemarch, said locals were ‘‘all smiles'' when talking about the rain at the local cafe yesterday morning.
‘‘Often, it's just knowing that it can rain,'' she said. ‘‘This is probably enough to get some germination. It was a really nice evening.''
However, Middlemarch residents were still ‘‘very concerned'' about how dry it was, Cr Wilson said.
MetService meteorologist Nicole Ranger said the majority of rain fell between midnight and 1am yesterday and more rain was forecast for tomorrow.
‘‘It looks like we should get a period of rain on Friday but nothing drought-busting. I guess everything helps.''
It was too early yesterday to predict how much rain was likely but it would be ‘‘a lesser amount'', MetService meteorologist Angus Hines said.
Niwa National Climate Centre principal scientist Chris Brandolino told the Otago Daily Times last week at least 25mm of persistent rain was needed to get back to what was considered normal for this time of year.
Mr Brandolino said even then, it might not make much difference to soil moisture levels.
Rainfall
From 6pm on Tuesday to 10am yesterday
Dunedin city 27mm
Dunedin Airport 20.2mm
Middlemarch 18mm
Oamaru 6.8mm
Alexandra 6mm
Ranfurly 6mm
Queenstown 3.8mm
Wanaka 0.2mm