Mar. 23.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 493

Government Meteorological Observatory.

METEOROLOGICAL Observations at Kelburn, Wellington, for the Month of January, 1933. Observations taken at 9 a.m.

Altitude of Observatory, 415 ft.

Mean earth temperature at 1 ft., 67·2°; and at 3 ft., 63·7°. Number of rain days, 13.

DIRECTION OF WIND.

NOTE.—A pleasant summer month with mean temperature above the normal, and precipitation 26 per cent. below the average of previous years. Total bright sunshine, 252·8 hours, 55 per cent. of the possible, and one sunless day. Lightning was seen on the 18th, 20th, and 21st; thunder was heard on the 20th and 21st; and a slight fog was in evidence on the early morning of the 1st. Mean dew-point at 9 a.m., 55·0°; and mean vapour pressure, 0·432 in.

NOTES ON THE WEATHER FOR JANUARY, 1933.

General.—The weather during the month was, on the whole, warm and sunny, with little wind. Though rainfall was below normal in most places, there was much muggy, humid weather. The continual shortage of rain in the North Island has led to a reduction of milk yields, but stock generally are reported to be in very good condition, and in most districts there is abundant feed. Much hay and ensilage have been laid by for the winter. Fruit yields promise to be about average, but root crops are patchy. A good wheat crop is likely if rust and other troubles are avoided.

Rainfall.—As a rule the rainfall was considerably less than the average, but the deficits were very variable owing to the irregular nature of the rains that did occur. In the South Island there was much more than the normal in most of Nelson and Westland and much of the high country of the interior. The same is true of the north-eastern portion of the North Island. In Taranaki, inland districts fared better than the coast. In the Manawatu the distribution was very patchy, some places being very dry while in others good rains were received. The lack of rain is being felt most acutely, perhaps, in parts of the Waikato country. At the end of the month there seemed a likelihood of the dry conditions in Marlborough and Hawke’s Bay being relieved. Thunderstorms were rather numerous and several cases of severe hailstorms were reported. A tornado in the Te Awamutu district on the 19th was responsible for some damage.

Temperatures.—Temperatures were everywhere above the normal for the month, many places having the warmest January since 1924. The average was usually exceeded by about 1° F. There were some very warm days in the middle and at the end of the month, numbers of places in eastern districts of the South Island recording over 90° F.

Sunshine.—In spite of the much humid weather, more sunshine than usual was experienced. Of the returns to hand, Nelson with 284·6 and Blenheim with 284·0 hours, furnished the highest totals.

Pressure Systems.—The outstanding feature of the weather charts for the month, as in the previous one, has been the general low pressure and the disturbed conditions prevailing in the tropics. This had a great influence on the weather in the Dominion and produced unhappy conditions for the forecaster since it resulted in the normal eastward movement of disturbances being interfered with.

For example, a moderate westerly depression passed eastward on the 2nd, and on the 3rd an anticyclone commenced to follow it on to the Dominion. This would normally have meant that the southerly winds which had set in would have gradually died down and veered to warm northerlies as the centre of the anticyclone passed, but at this time the tropical cyclone which was encountered during the night of the 4th to 5th January by the s.s. “Maunganui,” near Rarotonga, was passing through the Pacific Island Groups from north of Fiji to south of the Cook Islands. The effect of this storm was to cause the pressure to remain low to the east of New Zealand and southerly winds to continue.

Next, another tropical cyclone, which was first heard of on the 8th, moved very slowly almost in a due southerly direction and it was not until the 17th that it finally filled up and disappeared when centred north of East Cape. For some days it