COLD TIMES AHEAD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 202, 6 May 1912, Page 2

COLD TIMES AHEAD.

ANTARCTIC CONDITIONS TO BE EXPECTED. Auckland, May 2. Mr. H. B. Devereaux, of Waihi, who is i a close student of meteorology, and who made a very accurate prediction of the i severe weather experienced in the spring • and early summer, is of opinion that we . are going to experience an exceptionally i severe winter. lie says: "The present spell of Antarctic weather would appear to be .the forerunner 1 of the prevailing type of weather condi- ! tions to bo expected during the coming winter. The weather which prevailed ■ from October of last year to January ' of the present year was of the same type. Great oscillations of the high pressure ' systems of both hemispheres a.ppear to 1 have been and are taking place in like ■ phase, and it will be interesting to 1 watch events during the next few 1 months. "The abnormally hot summer in England, and the subsequent weather over ' many parts of the Northern Hemisphere, : appear to be due to the cyclical position 1 of the high-pressure belts; and as the 1 belt of the Southern Hemisphere appears to move in unison with that of the oppo- ' site hemisphere, an ftbnorpial swing of the great Antarctic depression is | likely. ! "Further, investigations seem to point to the fact that the weather cycle in this Dominion is largely coincident with that of South Africa, and does not go with the Australian cycle. Every 15 and 19 vears there is a maximum and minor cycle. In 1883 the rainfall in Auckland was considerably above the average, and also in 1893, which year was a storm cycle for South Africa, when the great southern rain belt made considerable northing, and ice was reported in lower latitudes than usual. If the cycle is to culminate as events would indicate, a severe winter may be expected, with a predominance of westerly and south-westerly winds and abnormal rainfall. Tee will in. all probability be reported in lower latitudes than usual. "Altogether, it will be very interesting to watch events during the coming winter." . ,