LOWEST RECORDED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19980, 4 July 1939, Page 5

LOWEST RECORDED

BAROMETRIC PRESSURE HEADING AT AUCKLAND PASSING OF DEPRESSION GALES ON TASMAN SEA ' ■'/ ♦ (Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, thus day. The barometer dropped to the lowest -point ever recorded in Auckland at 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon when the reading was 28.718 in., or 9. 2.5 millibars. Subsequently there was a steady upward trend. Although ithe storm which might have been, expected had not readied Auckland at a late hour, gales were experienced in the far north and on the Tasman Sea.

An explanation of the phenomenon was given in the weather map prepared at the Government meteorological office in the new trans-Tasman airway building at Mechanics Day. This shdw.-d that the cold front surface along Which the mass of cold ait undercuts the. warmer air was moving across the Tasman yesterday motnlng toward New Zealand in an easterly direction. On it a very deep depression had formed, probably fairly close to the New Zealand coast.

Recovery in Barometer The meteorologists considered that the front had passed over Auckland early in the afternoon, followed by the recovery in the barometer. The deepest part of the depression had not come over Auckland and consequently, although high winds and possibly gales were to be expected, it was unlikely that winds of phenomenal force would strike the city.

Although Jihe (barometer had reached a record Idw level, it by no means necessarily followed that Auckland would experience the worst storm ini its history, as many other factors were involved. An indication that the affected areas in ■ the Tasman were experiencing high winds was given by reports received yesterday. Norfolk Island reported a wind of force 8 on the Beaufort scale, equivalent to a full gale. The motor-ship Port Taurahga, about 200 miles south-west of Norfolk Island, advised that she was experiencing wind of force 9 or a strong gale, while the steamer Omaxa, 200 miles weslt of North Cape, also reported a‘strong gale.

The lowest barometic reading in Gisborne yesterday was 28.83 in. at Z p.m., .this being the lowest pressure recorded.- for three years. Although the level gradually rose during the , night, the pressure was still low thiis morning, the 8 o’clock reading being 29.08Ln. On January 15 last the pressure fell to 28.83-in., but the lowest pressure on record was a reading of 28.76 in. on May 2, 1936.