The total rainfall for that period was only 54.8mm, which was 31 per cent of the long-term average. Up to that point December to March was heading towards being the second lowest rainfall for that period on record. However, the final four days of March brought the long dry period to a very abrupt end, Agnew said.
BRYA INGRAM/STUFF
The Marlborough region is still in a prohibited fire season, meaning there is a total ban on outdoor fires. Meanwhile, the downpour in late March was enough rain to allow the upper tracks of the Wither Hills Farm to reopen. At 6pm on Thursday, all tracks on the hills reopened.
Scott Hammond/Stuff
Future Post national accounts manager Diana Jamieson, left, and Marlborough District Council solid waste manager Alec McNeil, with the new fence posts made of recycled plastic at Blenheim’s Bluegums Landfill.
Fence posts made of recycled plastics are popping up at a Blenheim landfill, coming full circle for the project conceived on an old rubbish site. Future Post founder Jerome Wenzlick was fencing on an old landfill site, having broken several wooden posts on buried plastic waste, when he wondered if the stubborn plastic could be reused as posts. A few years later, a few hundred recycled plastic posts are being used for a boundary fence at Blenheim’s Bluegums Landfill, along with a few hundred more in the nearby Wither Hills Farm Park.
The mountainbike park and the upper walking tracks had been closed to protect recreational users, the spokesman said. Signs had been installed at several entry points to reinforce the message. People were strongly advised not enter the closed areas, and use only the Lower Farm Track, Mapp Track, the town boundary or Taylor River Reserve tracks in the early morning.
METSERVICE
People in eastern Aotearoa should be hunting shade on Tuesday, with many places expected to get well into the 30s. MetService had recorded Blenheim’s high as 36.2C at 3pm on Wednesday, the national high. Elsewhere, Christchurch had peaked at 34.7C about 2pm, according to MetService. Masterton also hit 34.5C, and Gisborne 34.6C. Much of the country peaked in the mid-20s.