 |
| Click on picture to enlarge it for a better visual |
New Zealand has officially been declared as being in a drought. The above photo taken by satellite shows New Zealand in March 2012 (left) and again March 2013 (right). Most of the North Island has had no significant rain since well before Christmas.
Cyclone Sandy is hopefully going to rain down on New Zealand over this weekend, but here on the east coast of the North Island forecast rain often fails to materialise.
Even my drought tolerant plants are keeling over. My lawn is brown and patchy. The hills are brown. The fields are brown. Beneath the dried brown grass is dry dirt.
Farm stock are being slaughtered because feed is so expensive. This means that meat prices will rise dramatically.
Vegetable prices are going up because of the water costs to irrigate them and because so many crops are failing.
Whoever would have thought we would be praying for a cyclone to head our way?
Hi Lynne, things sounding very tough in your post, written 10 days ago. I hope things are better now.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to believe that New Zealand is in drought, when we have been having plentiful rain. I really hope things pick up for you.
ReplyDeleteWe have had rain since this post, thank goodness. We are now in the last month of winter (spring officially starts here on 1st September), but we have had a mainly sunny winter in Hawkes Bay where I live. While that has made for a beautiful, mild winter I do not think it bodes well for summer. The signs are already there for another long, dry one with another drought. Meanwhile, I am just enjoying the sunny winter :-)
DeleteIsn't it a shame that we seem to be having such weather extremes world wide. Here we are having the winter from hell: lots of arctic cold and snow. I hope you get some rain soon!
ReplyDelete