EQUINOCTIAL GALES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3850, 27 September 1928, Page 2

EQUINOCTIAL GALES.

If there happens to be any wind at the time of the Equinox, it is put down by a great many people to ‘‘equinoctial gales” remarks the Wellington Post, it is very generally supposed that around the 23rd of March or September, the date of the two Equinoxes, there is an undue prevalence of wind. The last few days have seemed to lend colour to this belief, but unfortunately, like many another popular belief, “equinoctial gales” have no foundation in fact. Continued observations have failed to show any unusual prevalence of gales at the season of the Equinoxes. In one case observations taken for fifty years show that during the five days from the 21st to the 25th of March and September there were fewer gales and storms than during the preceding and succeeding five days. The truth of the matter is that when it happens to blow at the time of the Equinox it is remembered as an “equinoctial gale,” but when it does not blow the fact is forgotten. September, in New Zealand, is normally a windy month, and the chances are that about 23rd September a Tasman Sea depression will cause a considerable draught, but that has nothing to do with the Equinox falling on that date.