AUGUST WEATHER BAD FOR FARMERS

Chronicle (Levin), 12 September 1946, Page 3

AUGUST WEATHER BAD FOR FARMERS

RAIN WAS DETRIMENTAL TO STOCK The l'ollowiug notes oti the. weather for August, 194(5, have been supplied by tho Director of Meteorologieal Seriees: — - General. — August was a windy munth with i'requeat rain in most .districts. T-he westerly type of weather whieh set in early during .July eontinued with only two brief interruptions. The average atmospherie pressure for the monlh was uiiusually low. llenee, except in \ory prolected eustern loeaJities, eondilions have been verv changeable with many intense showers, As teniperatures were eoolest near the end oi' the montli

spring growtli did not make the ad- . vauce expeeted. l'ersistent rain Iuis kept ihe ground soddeu in Auckland, 1 Tarauuki, Manawatu and Westluiul, and this has been detrimental to stock. In Auckland and Ilawke's Bay, wherc the summer drought was worst, many cows died at calving. The wet weather has been liard on young lambs. The ' Wairarapa, whieh had a cool, wet conclusion to the montli, was oue of ino arcas most all'ected. Rainfall. — The totals for the montli were above norma], the except ions being on the east coast, Gisborne had barely lialf its usual amount, and deficieneies occurred from East Gape to Waipukurau and in most localities from Blenheim to Dunedin. Totals exceeded double the average from the Waikato 1 Ihrough the Iviitg Country down to the yianawatu, and for many parts it was the wet test August for a number of ' vears. Districts about and west of Ihe Southern Alps had totals from 10 to 3U i iuches. There was some" flooding at i times in all the wet areas mentioncd. i A feature of the weather of July and ■August was the persistence of raindays, these contiuuing without auy lireak i'or over 30 clays at many sta- : tions. As cxampl.es mav be mentioncd Henderson and Hamilton, eaeh 3(5 days. Xew l'lvmouth 3S days, Tangarakau i (Taranaki) 43 days, and Westport , 35 davs. On several oceasions tliunderstorim . were widesjiread. Teniperatures. — Western and southeri districts of the South Island had teni , peratures \"evy slightly cooler, wliilt elsewhere they were rather milder thar norinal. There was lieavy snow in th( Alps on the 5th and 6th, in the Nelsor ranges on flie 33th. and falls- oeeurref

in tlie Xational Park area and tlie Wellington ranges from tlie 2(5th to -9th. Sunshine. — East of the maiu ranges, with the exception of the Wairarapa, sunshine was somewliat better than usual, but mainly moderate deficiencies were registered elsewhere. Gisborne, Timaru and Blenheim had totals exceeding 170 liours.