WEATHER SUMMARY

Hokitika Guardian, 8 March 1929, Page 5

WEATHER SUMMARY

MONTH OF FEBRUARY. WELLINGTON, March G. The following notes on the weather of February are supplied *»y the Di’fcctor of the Government Meteorological Service (Dr. Kidson): — February was a very dry month, the far southern portions of Otago and Southland being the only part of the Dominion to receive more than. the average rainfall. Numbers of places in Canterbury recorded no rain at all. South of Dunedin rain fell on a fair number of days, but elsewhere almost the whole of the month’s precipitation occurred during the first five days and most of it on the Ist and 2nd. Meteorologically the month was a quiet one. There was a comparative absence of wind, the prevailing direction being south-westerly. The thundery conditons of the previous months were not maintained. Thunderstorms were however, reported from a number of stations on the 3rd, and a hailstorm in the Oamaru district did much damage to vineries at Kakanui. Temperatures and sunshine were above normal. The continued dry weather caused pastures to become very parched during the latter half of the month, and milk yields have declined. Otherwise stock are in good condition and the dry spell was advantageous to the extent that it checked the rank growth of feed produced by the heavy rains of the earlier months. Reports indicate fair or good yields from crops ot all sorts, and harvesting and haymaking have been carried out under favourable conditions.

The .Strongly-developed monsoonal conditions over Australia which characterised January, were again in evidence in February. Pressures! were low for most of the time in Northern Australia. The low pressures were counterbalanced by a stationary high pressue system over the Tasman sea, which was responsible f.or the prevalence of south-westerly winds over New Zealand, and the dry weathef which prevailed between the 6th and 23rd. The area or low pressue extended eastward from tropical Australia during the third week of Febiuarj and a cyclone developed between Fiji and the New Hebrides. The centre passed close to the Kermadec Islands cn the 21st but the effect on New Zealand weather was slight. The rain during the first days of the month was due to a deep depression of a southern or westerly type which was centred in the South Tasman Sea on the Ist. This was followed by a series of secondaries, of which the last crossed the Dominion on the sth. There were northly gales in Cook Strait cn the 2nd, and southerly gales round the southern exteremity of the South Island between the sth and the 7th. From the 23rd to the end of the month another series of depressions of a westerly type affected the South Island, but the rain was confined practically to the West Coast and far southern districts.