APRIL 12.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 1105

Government Meteorological Observatory.

METEOROLOGICAL Observations at Kelburn, Wellington, for the month of January, 1928. Observations taken at 9 a.m.

Altitude of Observatory, 415 ft.

Mean earth temperature at 1 ft., 66·3°; and at 3 ft., 63·3°. Number of rain days, 5.

DIRECTION OF WIND.

NOTE.—At the beginning of the month observations were commenced at the Kelburn Observatory for which no normal values are available. The month was an exceptionally dry and sunny one. At Karori Reservoir, half a mile distant to the S.S.W., with a similar exposure to that at Kelburn, the rainfall was 94 per cent. below normal. Total bright sunshine, 312·5 hours (68 per cent. of the possible), and one sunless day. Mean dew-point at 9 a.m., 52·8°; and mean vapour pressure, 0·398 in. The mean pressure for the month was the highest ever recorded in January at Wellington, and 0·281 in. above the normal of 29·903 in.

SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY, 1928.

The past month has been notable for the exceptionally dry conditions experienced over the whole of the Dominion. The deficiency of rainfall is most serious in districts with a westerly aspect, following as it does on a dry December.

No vigorous low-pressure disturbance affected any part of the New Zealand region during the course of the month. On several occasions storms developed in Australia which would normally have brought general rains to this country. In each instance, however, although some slight effect was felt, the pressure changes were reduced to shallow waves by the time the disturbance crossed the Dominion. The most important of these waves passed on the 1st to 2nd and the 26th January, respectively. Each produced moderate rains in parts of the west coast districts, with scattered showers elsewhere.

The dominant feature of the pressure distribution has been the persistence of high pressure, especially in the North. Anti-cyclones were actually centred over or near New Zealand on 1st–2nd, 4th–6th, 8th–12th, 14th–23rd, and 29th–31st, respectively. The dry, warm, sunny, and droughty weather experienced was the direct consequence of these anticyclonic conditions. The mean pressure was the highest recorded for January at Wellington.

On the whole there has been a relative absence of wind, but between the 16th and the 19th, while a rather intense anti-cyclone lay across the South Island, strong easterly winds blew over the North Island, frequently reaching gale force in the far North and causing showery weather in the Auckland Peninsula.

The month has been the driest January on record in southern Auckland, Taranaki, and parts of the Manawatu, Nelson, and Marlborough districts.

At the end of the month, owing to the previous plentiful growth of feed, the effects of the drought has not, in general, been severely felt. In large parts of the North Island, however, especially in the central and western portions, milk returns had fallen off considerably. Elsewhere, although pastures were becoming parched, compensations were provided in the satisfactory maturing of grain and fruit crops, and the season has been a good one. Should rain not fall by the middle of February, however, many districts will suffer severely.

EDWARD KIDSON, Director.