APRIL'S WEATHER

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 101, 1 May 1930, Page 15

APRIL'S WEATHER

ABNORMAL MONTH

DRY SPELL ENDED

v Tho greater part of April in Welling- ' ton was dry and sunny, and a, continu- " inico of tho typo of weather experienced since the beginning of February. " It was only on the last three days of 1 the month that the-sc conditions cliang- * cd to dull and wet weather. Bain totalling 109 points fell on the Bth, 9th, and 11th, mostly at night, but on the last '" three days of the month 277 more points were recorded at Kelburn, bringing the month's total up to 380 points. At the ', Ivarori Keservoir the month's rainfall, recorded on the six days, totalled 427 points, which figure is 12 per cent, above the April average. A remarkable feature of the month's weather was the amount of sunshine recorded. The sun shone, for some part of the day at" least, on every day of the month until the 29th. On that and . tho succeeding day, however, tho sun . was totally' invisible. The month's . total number of hours of sunshine was ; 182.6, nearly an hour a day more than i svhat can be normally expected in April. [ In spito of this, the mean temperaturn i of the month was slightly below the ay- ) erago, this being due to the low night . readings. The sunny days, however, . kept daytime temperatures well up to i average April warmth. The month's . mean maximum temperature was 62.7 i degrees, exactly the average. Tho.higJ.i- ---■ est maximum, a. temperature of "0 degrees, was recorded on three days. Tho mean minimum was CO degrees, just over ;i degree lower than the aver-" age. The lowest minimum temperature in tho screen was 40.2 degrees on the 3rd. The approximate mean temperature for the month was 56.3 degrees, whereas the average for previous Aprils is 50.9 degrees. The moan grass minimum was 45.4 degrees, and the lowest grass minimum, "recorded on the 23rd, 32.2 degrees. Frosts were recorded in low-lying areas during the nights of the 23rd and 26th, but nono were actually recorded at' Kelburn. Once again there has been a remarkable absence, of wind and it begins to look as if, instead of "Windy Wellington," the Capital, City should appropriate Nelson's epithet of "Sunny." There were no gales at, all during the month, the average daily run of wind being only 147 miles, as against 234 which is the average for April. The two windiest days were the 11th and 12th, when northerly winds contributed daily runs of 486 and 321 miles respectively. The mean barometric pressure throughout the month was higher than the average, 30.12S inches as against 30.045. - ' ~.:.■ AN ABNOBMAI, PERIOD. ' Tho present year's weather to date has been remarkable in several respects. The first month of the year, January, normally a summer month, was tho reverse ..of what it: ought to have been. Temperatures were well below normal, and the rainfall very much above the average. February endeavoured to make amends by producing plenty of sunshine and very little rain, but temperatures were still on the low side. March went one better as far as dryness was concerned, and produced less than half an inch of ■■rain, as against the average monthly fall iv March of about 3$ inches. The total rainfall at Kelburn during February and March was only 206 points. _ To this February contributed 165 points, 143 of which fell on one day, the 15th, and March, nearly the driest on record, contributed a meagre 41 points., April, it seemed, was following suit, but the soaking of the last few ■ days has puttlie figures for the year's rainfall nearer, the normal. 'With 544 points of rain in January, 165 in February, 41 in March, and 386 in April, the y ar's total is now 2136 points, the average in Wellington for the first four months of the year being just a trifle less. These are. the Kelburn figures: those for the gauge at the Karori Keservoir are a little higher.