HOT DAYS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 18, 22 January 1924, Page 8

HOT DAYS

WELLINGTON SWELTERING

BUT A CHANGE PRESAGED

WEATHER REPORTS FOR COOK STRAIT/

There is a medium in all things, but so far as temperature is concerned Wellington is not experiencing it. Yesterday was decidedly the hottest day this season, and to-day bids fair to outdo it. On 11th January there was a record temperature for this summer, but yesterday was^ 3 degrees hotter than that. Ou 28th February, 1922, 82.3 degrees were registered in Wellington, but the thermometer showed 83.6 degrees in the shade, yesterday. The heat lasted well ■*i ,ie. nlSnt> and sleeping on top of the- blankets wag to be preferred to slumbering between or under them. Jivcn sheets produced a sense of discomfort. Most windows were/ or should navo been, open, wide open, and bo oppressive wa » the heat in some houses that n nocturnal shattering of-the panes' of open windows would almost have been welcomed M a means of providine more air to those trying in vain-to seep. But though the.-day was warm, i. W^ 9/ Ot So het M when Wellington recorded a temperature of 89 degrees many years ago. That reading ha, not been exceeded »inee. With yesterday's heat, however, there was a certain amount of mugginess which called back memenea of troopship journeys through the tropic, but the very heat itself prV. 18884.a change. There are Indication, of the format en ef a eyelonio disturbance w u.nerthward of New Zealand. Wellington may not be having an un. due amount-ol fine weather In am£ «*»« parts of the conn, "y, but there are places which are experiencing conditions the reverse of i&^V*?* Coßßt of «» North Island it has been dull and foggy, and ™L mght th<? f °B waa Cerise up the

nrST d ? f eW Z«la»i. coalition. the only apparent precursor of a change SL'.Tt™"" EOUth-east Bale roufh sea at Tauranga.. At Taur'anga, gL borne and one or two other places rain a falling to-day, but fine and warm weather is mostly reported. To-day's forecast is for easterly winds, strong to gale, northward of East Cape and Kawhia, and south-easterlies mode-rate-to strong elsewhere. The barometer has a falling tendency in the northern districts and it is unsteady in the South, being likely to fall anu rise again shortly. Warm and humid conditions are forecasted generally, with misty ram in the northern and East Coast districts, and unsettled and cloudy weather, is to be expected elsewhere at times, with rain to follow. The holiday season is now drawing to a close, but those who went cruising in the Marlborough Sounds heartily appreciated the weather reports and forecasts which were sent out from Wellington. A visitor to the Sounds who has just returned to Wellington states that twice daily reports of conditions about Coos Strait were received from the Dominion Meteorologist, and these proved of ;great^value to. yachtsmen and launch ipartiesiv-Weather-- conditions'-iri'-'- Cook Strait are not very dependable at any time, and if there is the slightest puff of - wind.%bout-the•-. Strait is sure to' catch it. For this reason it is unsafe to hazard a yacht or launch voyage across the Strait unless one has reliable advice as to the weather. Yesterday considerable anxiety about the passage over the Strait was felt by yachtsmen, Who sent special telegrams to Wellington asking what they should do. They were advised to get across before a, threatened south-easterly change evidenced itself. The special Cook Strait reports and forecasts were discontinued some days ago, and, it was this fact which caused the yachtsmen at Picton doubt and perturbation. Presumably, the need.for telegraphic economy is the reason for curtailment in the dispatch of weather reports, but shipping men would prefer,always to have the fullest information available, more especially those who ply about Cook Strait and in and out of Marlborough jSounds. Queen Charlotte Sound is oftenused as a refuge in stormy weather, not only by yachtsmen but by larger crait, but detailed weather reports are not exhibited at the Post Office at Picton, only "the general forecast supplied from the Meteorological Office at Wellington. The value of meteorological information was illustrated on the day that the recent launch fatality occurred at Island Bay. A number of yachtsmen on this side of the Strait contemplated making ' the journey to the Sounds, but they were warned that to do so would be sheer suicide. They very wisely refrained from attempting the passage.