Many areas experienced warm wet weather this week, with Country Life reporting Lake Hawea has had 70mm of rain already in July and coastal Southland 50mm of rain - half of what's expected for the whole month.
Temperatures in inland South Canterbury reached nearly 20 degrees this week, which Country Life says is unusual as it's only a couple of weeks past the winter solstice.
The Motueka/Nelson region also had a warm week with temperature reaching 18 degrees. The ground has finally dried out enough to do orchard planting. Marlborough had a nice week too with a few light frosts and not much rain.
In the North Island, the weather was also very good in Horowhenua: Country Life reports that a few days this week the temperature was 13 degrees at 7am. And Wairarapa had a week from heaven in terms of temperatures.
''Drought - what drought?" said one farmer who thinks rates are about 50% more than he would expect for this time of year.
Warm weather has spurred grass growth in Taranaki.
Mild, sunny periods around Pukekohe, where June's rainfall was higher than average, have produced a noticeable burst in growth in vegetable crops.
And Country Life says some dairy farmers in Northland have so much grass they can't wait for calving to begin to put it to good use.
