HOT AIR

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 22, 26 January 1934, Page 9

HOT AIR

FROM AUSTRALIA

EFFECT ON WEATHER

During the latter part of last week smoke from Australian bush fires drifted across the Tasinan •■ Sea and was noticeable in many parts of New Zealand.. .Yesterday and thisl morning tho sultry air connected with Australia's" heat wave also arrived here. This hot. ah'} however, became cooled during its passage, across ,the.ocean and was induced to condensation point. The result has been: the development in New Zealand of atmospheric conditions of a very humid kind,,with the prevalence of mist or fog. in many places. So the somewhat extraordinary and not very pleasant weather conditions prevailing in Wellington both yesterday and today can be attributed to Australia's heat wave. .

That these conditions are likely to improve gradually is indicated by the 'weather forecast issued at noon today. Moderate to strong westerly' winds, which will still reach galo force in exposed places, may.be. expected to moderate gradually.: The weather will be fair to cloudy and-humid, with scattered misty rain in places with a westerly aspect from! Tar'ahaki. southward. Conditions," however, shouid ■ improve gradually and temperatures may be expected to become, rather'cooler, The passage eastward of yesterday's depression caused strong north-westerly winds to prevail generally, gale force being reached in places. Barometric pressure, however,. has remained much higher in the north than in the South as: another consequence of the Australian heat wave, and this pressure distribu-; tiori has prevented any marked change to southerly winds, as at one time anticipated, although'the wind was southerly in direction over Otago .yesterday. Winds generally! however^ are showing a more westerly tendency, but the fall in temperatures has not been very marked. Misty rain fell yesterday in many places with a westerly aspect. Falls, were generally light, but on parts of the West Coast and mountainous regions of the South Island, some heavy falls were recorded; together with thunderstorms. Westport had two inches of rain yesterday, Greymouth 169 points, and Arthur's Pass over fivo inches.

Although otherwise fine, the weather in Auckland yesterday way clpudy, misty, and sultry, the wind being a westerly breeze. Wellington has had exceptionally thick, misty, and humid weather, but the intermittent light rain has been of no measurable quantity. The strong' northerly wind has at times reached galo force, and yesterday' afternoon two gusts of a velocity of 59 miles per hour were registered. The weather in Christchurch has been dull and hot, and for a while yesterday about midday the northwesterly wind reached gale force. At about 6 p.m., however, "the northwesterly gav^ place to a. north-easterly breeze and a temperatures, after having achieved a maximum'of 83.8 degrees in the shade, became cooler. A strong southerly wind set in in Duncdin yesterday morning.and some heavy showers fell. ' The afternoon, however, was fine. The temperatures at the beginning of the day were decidedly warm, but fell later with the advent' of the southerly.