A week long poll asking New Zealanders to gauge how concerned they are about the big, early, dry developing shows most people are now getting worried.

35% say they are “extremely worried” while 41% indicate some concern.

Less than a quarter of the total vote, 24%, say the current set up is “great!”. 

Of course there’s always a divide between those who live on the land and need rain for an income/living and those who live in the cities and towns who may not have the same demands. Not to mention most of us love a hot dry summer holiday!

Despite the incredibly wet autumn and winter which produced a wetter 2017 than usual for a number of places the majority of our readers at 76% say this dry weather is now worrying them.

WeatherWatch.co.nz said in October 2017 that summer this year may see big dry areas forming with even pockets of flooding elsewhere. We saw that two weeks ago when a flash flood hit Roxburgh in Central Otago while it was hotter and drier than average nearby.  

Lately we’ve mentioned that if something big doesn’t shift in our weather pattern some areas of drought may be declared next year. We’re still a long way from this happening, but this poll reflects what we’ve known for a few weeks now – it’s very early in the season to be so dry and hot.

Next week there is a nationwide cool down which will also bring in some showers to some of our driest areas.

– WeatherWatch.co.nz Weekly Polls