1036
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 32

Government Meteorological Observatory.

METEOROLOGICAL Observations at Kelburn, Wellington, for the Month of March, 1938. Observations taken at 9 a.m.

Altitude of Observatory, 415 ft.

Mean earth temperature at 1 ft., 66·2°; and at 3 ft., 65·6°. Number of rain days, 10. Total rainfall, 70 per cent. below normal. Sunshine, 52 per cent. of the possible. Mean dew-point at 9 a.m., 57·5°; mean vapour pressure, 0·472 in.

DIRECTION OF WIND.

Gale (force 8 or more). Forces 4 to 7. N. N.E. E. S.E. S. S.W. W. N.W. Calm.
1 | 14 | 7 | .. | .. | 3 | 4 | .. | .. | 12 | 5

NOTE.—North-west gales occurred on the 7th and 21st. A slight fog was experienced on the morning of the 15th, and on the 25th a dense fog enveloped the eastern side of the harbour.

NOTES ON THE WEATHER FOR MARCH, 1938.

General.—The past month was, with one possible exception, the warmest March experienced since records commenced in New Zealand. Rainfall was, in general, much below average. Good soaking rains are now needed, but owing to the heavy rains in February, the high humidity of the atmosphere and the absence of wind, the shortage has not, so far, been felt greatly. North Auckland and much of the South Taranaki Bight area are very dry, and in parts of Otago and Southland drought has prevailed for some months. In most districts, however, there is abundance of pasture, and stock and crops are doing very well. Harvesting and farm work has been carried out under good conditions. Lambs again have failed to fatten satisfactorily. The white butterfly is reported to be plentiful in many districts.

Rainfall.—The total rainfall was much below average over practically the whole of the North Island. Most places had only about a quarter to half the usual fall, and some even less than 10 per cent. Te Awamutu recorded none at all. In the South Island, most of Nelson and the west coast, parts of South Canterbury, and Invercargill, recorded more than the average, but most of the remainder less. It was a dry month in Otago. Frequently, such rain as fell amounted only to a light drizzle.

Temperatures.—Mean temperatures were everywhere much above normal. In the North Island the average departure was about 4 degrees and in the South about 3 degrees. The only March for over seventy years past which could compare with last month for warmth was that of 1916, when the mean appears to have been very much the same. There were few extreme temperatures, but it was almost continuously warm, and minimum temperatures were particularly high. A few light frosts occurred in parts of the South Island on two nights.

Sunshine.—The amount of bright sunshine recorded was above average in most districts but considerably below it in Canterbury and Westland. Napier had 243·1 and Tauranga 236·4 hours.

Pressure Systems.—There was extremely little storm activity over the Dominion during the month. There was a prevalence of high pressure, and, in numbers of cases, storms which were well developed over the Tasman Sea or to the north died out before reaching this country.

On the 5th to 6th a cyclone centre moved south-eastwards off the east coast of the Auckland Province. Southerly gales occurred in the far North, but there was not a great deal of rain.

From the 7th to the 9th westerly depressions caused rain mainly over the South Island, with some heavy falls in Westland and the far South. On the 7th there were brief north-westerly gales in Cook Strait and some places to the southward.

Another series of irregular depressions passed during the period from the 18th to the 21st and were responsible for widespread rains, with heavy falls on the west coast of the South Island.

Finally, from the 27th to the 28th, a depression with more energy than its predecessors crossed the South Island. There were some northerly gales on the 28th and again some heavy rains in the South Island.

Much of the rain that fell during the month, even in western districts of the South Island, did so in anticyclonic weather and was of an irregular character. There was much cloudy weather, also, in some of the periods of high pressure, and fogs were of frequent occurrence.

EDWARD KIDSON, Director.