2860
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 70

Government Meteorological Observatory.

METEOROLOGICAL Observations at Kelburn, Wellington, for the Month of July, 1931. Observations taken at 9 a.m.

Altitude of Observatory, 415 ft.

Mean earth temperature at 1 ft., 45·2°; and at 3 ft., 47·5°. Number of rain days, 19.

DIRECTION OF WIND.

Gale (force 8 or more). Forces 4 to 7. Calm. N. N.E. E. S.E. S. S.W. W. N.W.
.. | 14 | 2 | 3½ | 1½ | 1½ | 5 | 1 | .. | 1 | 15½

NOTE.—A mild winter month, with moderate to strong north-west winds prevailing. Total bright sunshine, 121 hours, 41 per cent. of the possible, and six sunless days. Precipitation was 14 per cent. above the mean of previous years. Frost was recorded on the grass on four mornings, lightning was seen on the 18th and 19th, and fog was in evidence on the 3rd, 8th, and 11th. There was a thunderstorm with hail in the early morning of the 31st. Mean dew-point at 9 hrs., 41·2°; and mean vapour pressure, 0·258 in.

SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF JULY, 1931.

General.—July will be remembered for several severe storms, which were responsible for boisterous and prolonged westerly or south-westerly gales and for heavy and widespread snowfalls. Heavier snow has been experienced in the North Island, but in the South it is many years since similar conditions have been reported. New Zealand is liable to occasional series of cold years, and it is generally in them that the most noteworthy snowfalls occur. Temperatures were below normal from 1877 to 1879, from 1901 to 1906, and have been so, also, since the middle of 1929. 1877 and 1878 were years of record snowfall in some districts, and it is to these years that local residents on the West Coast of the South Island and in Southland, respectively, have to look back for falls comparable with that of the 19th to 20th July of this year. The years 1902 to 1904 were also ones of very heavy snow, especially in the interior of Canterbury and Otago, and the falls of last month were about equal to the heaviest in those years.

Severe frosts followed the snows in the South Island, but in the North Island conditions were, on the average, rather milder than usual.

Rainfall continues to be deficient in South Canterbury and Northern Otago, but in most other parts July was a very wet month. This was particularly the case in places which receive their rain mainly from the west. There, the persistent and almost daily rains kept the rivers high during the greater part of the time. Though the floods were nowhere severe, the Manawatu River eroded portion of its banks in the Foxton district. Several houses were undermined and much of the low-lying country is under water.

Stock and pastures are generally in fair order, especially in the North Island, some growth of grass having taken place in most localities. The saturation of the soil by continuous rains in Taranaki, and the snow and frosts in parts of the South Island, caused a slight deterioration in conditions, especially of cattle. There has been much hand feeding.

Rainfall.—Isolated places in North Auckland and in South Westland experienced less than the average rain for July, as did also the central eastern portion of the South Island—from Christchurch to Oamaru. Elsewhere, the normal was exceeded, and in most cases by large amounts.

Temperatures.—Though temperatures were still generally below normal in the South Island, the departures were not so large as they have been in numbers of recent months. In the far North the month was a fairly warm one, and though the normal was approached in the southern part, most of the North Island recorded temperatures slightly above it. This was due principally to the absence of low minimum temperatures. The South Island, on the other hand, while having some warm and sunny days, experienced frequent and severe frosts. A minimum temperature of 11·9° on the grass was observed at Christchurch on the morning of the 20th, which constitutes a record. In parts of Otago, also, the frost was unprecedented. Much trouble was experienced from frozen water-pipes.