Parts of the South Island are the driest they've been in a decade — according to NIWA — as the long, hot summer drags on.
These conditions are putting pressure on farmers and growers, and some households expected to face tougher water restrictions soon.
On Sam Murray's farm in southern Marlborough, the land is brown and dry, almost as far as the eye can see.
"From the end of July through until now we've have 93mm," he said. "The last rain we had was 10 days ago and we had 11mm and it's the biggest rain we've had since the start of September".
As a result, he said he has sold some of his stock or moved them to other farms. "We'd usually carry, depending on the season... 5000 stock units. We're probably right down to about 3000 now".
Murray farmed through the 2015-17 drought in Marlborough and said this wasn't as bad, however he said if rain didn't come soon it would be difficult for the "bottom line".
"It will be what it will be, we've just got to hope for the best," he said.
In Tasman, some consent holders were facing their toughest restrictions ever, having to reduce their water use by 65%.
This week, river levels dropped dramatically and it was likely many residents in the region on council water supplies would face tougher water restrictions from Monday.
Tasman District Council's Richard Kirby said it could be quite a "stressful and difficult time" keeping an eye on things in the coming months.
"At this stage it's not looking as bad as 2019 when we had the Pigeon Valley fires, although NIWA have informed us it's likely to be dry right through until the end of April. In that case, we could be heading towards a 2019".
A potential reprieve on the horizon for Tasman was the Waimea Dam, due to be completed soon as that would help to keep river levels high.
NIWA meteorologist Ben Noll said no part of the country was officially in a drought yet, but it was a possibility in the future if there wasn't substantial rainfall across March and April.
"February's been a pretty dry month across much of New Zealand, especially here in the South Island, where we've had moderate to locally extremely dry conditions developing," he said.
Noll said the situation was unlikely to get better in the short term.
"I'd expect kind of an escalation in some of the dryness over the next two weeks or so. And it will also be coupled with windy periods as well and wind can actually help to exacerbate some of that dryness".
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