MAR. 7.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 635

Government Meteorological Observatory.

METEOROLOGICAL Observations at Kelburn, Wellington, for the Month of January, 1935. Observations taken at 9 a.m.

Altitude of Observatory, 415 ft.

Mean earth temperature at 1 ft., 69·5°; and at 3 ft., 66·7°. Number of rain days, 9.

DIRECTION OF WIND.

NOTE.—Probably the hottest January ever experienced. Approximate mean temperature, 4·9° above normal. Extreme maximum temperature, 81·1° on 31st. Total bright sunshine, 267·0 hours, 58 per cent. of the possible. Precipitation, 33 per cent. below normal. Gales occurred on the 8th, 18th, and 24th, and there was a thunderstorm on the morning of the 2nd. Mean dew-point at 9 a.m., 56·5°; mean vapour pressure, 0·457 in.

NOTES ON THE WEATHER FOR JANUARY, 1935.

General.—The present summer bids fair to be the hottest ever experienced in the Dominion. Though not quite so much above normal as December, mean temperatures in January were very high. Rainfall was again much below average over a large part of the country, and, though many drier Januaries have been experienced, the continued rain shortage, combined with the very high temperatures, has resulted in serious conditions for the farmer in most of the more thickly-settled districts. Pastures are, in general, burnt up, and in many places there is a shortage of water. The milk yield has fallen off very greatly, and stock are beginning to lose condition. Cereal crops will be light, and the grain in many cases shrivelled. Many of the crops were late sown, and the dry weather has been more severe on them than would otherwise have been the case. The prospects for fodder crops are not good. Insect pests are rather troublesome in some districts. Nelson, Westland, parts of Otago and Southland, and some of the high country of the North Island are in much better condition than the rest of the Dominion, but for the country as a whole the position is a serious one and rain is very badly needed.

Rainfall.—Heavy rains were recorded in the western half of the South Island. Parts of eastern Otago and South Canterbury and of the high country in Taranaki and Wellington also fared well. Elsewhere the month was a very dry one. The position is most acute in the Waikato, Bay of Plenty, and East Coast districts of the North Island and most of Canterbury and Marlborough.

Temperatures were everywhere considerably above the normal. In some parts, January, 1887, was hotter, but for the Dominion as a whole last month was probably the hottest January hitherto experienced. In the North Island the departures from average were everywhere large, but in the South conditions were less uniform. There were not many high temperature records broken, but it was almost continuously warm, and many readings above 90° were registered.

Sunshine.—South of Nelson and Marlborough the amount of sunshine recorded did not, as a rule, differ greatly from the average for January, but elsewhere the month was a very sunny one. Tauranga reports 327·6, Blenheim 299·1, and Napier 293·9 hours.

Storm Systems.—Typical summer weather conditions prevailed throughout the month. Numerous depressions travelled across the Tasman Sea and New Zealand, but they were generally quick-moving, shallow, and of complicated form. As in the previous two months, they were much less vigorous over New Zealand than over Australia, and none of them produced a really good general rain. Again, also, there was an absence of strong outbreaks of cold air from the south, although Australia

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