VARIABLE CONDITIONS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 143, 5 April 1940, Page 4

VARIABLE CONDITIONS

WEATHER IN MARCH —_— r t WIDE RANGE IN Once again the promise of a dry autumn has come to make up for n wet summer, two months of unusually high rainfall being broken by March, when the fall of I.lßiit was only half of the general average; However, the month was much wetter than the same period last year,, which, with a total of only .20in, was the driest March in the history of observations. The weather last month was very variable. Although rain fell on 11 days, all the falls were light and there was no day without sunshine, in comparison with 199 hours 24 minuets for the previous March, the sun shone for a total of 191 hours, 54 minutes last month, the 14th day having the greatest amount with lO hours 36 minutes. Temperatures were much lower than those recorded in March, 1939, the mean this year being 62.98 degrees compared Avith 69.03 degrees, a fall of 6.05 degrees. The mean maximum of (-9.28 degrees was also over three degrees below that for the previous March, but an extreme maximum of 81.2 degrees recorded on March 1 was much higher than the 76.8 degrees, which was the highest temperature last year. An extreme minimum reading of 16.5 degrees on March 12, compared with 56.7 degrees for the former period. Uniformly high barometric readings were obtained throughout the month, although the mean of 30.099 in was lower than that for last year, when the average was 30.169, and for the year before also. Winds were generally moderate in force, with south arid south-west-erly predominating. There was one very misty night and dew was recorded on 13 days.