WEATHER FORECAST DIFFICULTIES

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5304, 17 January 1947, Page 6

WEATHER FORECAST DIFFICULTIES

I i { Press A: wn.-

. POST-WAR PROBLEMS SERVICES STATIOMS SADLY MISSED l

—By Telegraph — Copyriyht.)

WELLINGTON, Last Night. With the loss of many of the i observation stations maintained | during the war by the Air Force, j accurate weather forecasting in I New Zealand has become increasingly difficult .vlr. J. P. Gabites, ofTi eer in oharge of forecasting, who is just back from a comprehensive tour of England and | ihe Cortinent, said that, considering I the limited informatio^n available in ; the Pacifie, as compared with Europe, | New Zealand's meteorologieal services i did well. j During the war aircraft had supj plied valuable data, now eurtailed : with the withdrawal oi" the stations ! applying ground information. j At the same time the release • of } radio-.sonde, radio transmitting* balloons has beon reduc-ed to oue daily | ironi Auckland and Hokitika. This j has resuked in less eomplete informa- ! iion atioui the "upper air." j Though the saving to the coumry | th rough the work of the meteorologieal serviee cannot be assessed, it is | prohably comparable with mainten- | rmce cost. Its efficiency largely de- ' pends on the money allocated to it and I in tuni, this is determined by how imj porran. its work is corsidered to be. 5 i Varied Duties | The services extend beyond supplynonoral and sometimes sceptica! i puoiic with advance advice on the [ weather. ' The Meteorologieal Office answers i many individual requests for weather information. Farmers perhaps about to harvest, or a borough eouneil underiaking- tar-sealing, may a.slt when i.iey are likely to get three or'four days without rain. Anoiher hody undertaking an envaneer ing ct.nstruction may wart to know when there will he least wind. I5y requesting the information individuaiiy, they are assured oi* more accarucy .hau by trying to sort the condifions they want from normal distriet i'oi'ecasts, as weather in a single distriet may vary consideralily. This is hecause of the mountair.ous nature of the country.

N etwork of Posts llesides the internal stations, New Zealand is fed by a network of observation s.ations as part of the interna- . iona! stheme. Th rough Suva, Lavertor. (Melbourne), and Wellington, snmmaries of the conditions the respective areas are transmiited am! received. The niost southern reports corne i'rom the Campbell Lslands. The south-west is a prol tic souree of New Zealand's weather and, with the abseure of any s ation in that quarter, deductions as to what is brewing there are hard to make. The Japanese whaler, Nissin Maru, i r.t presem in that locality, has been . of assistance lately. Every six liours [ an analysis of the reports received is \ made and a map prepaied with the ieobars plotted. (Isobars are the lines joining places of the same barome.rie pressure). ; C'omparing the map with ihe oue • for ihe previous six honrs, the most pro'iaole movements of depressions, and centres of high pressure, and ihe shii't of winds are prcdicted. This, addei to the information of the • weather prevailing in the shifting i area, enables an accurate es.imate oi' ; px'obable ilevelopments to be made.