84

CLIMATOLOGICAL TABLE—continued

Summary of the Records of Temperature, Rainfall, and Sunshine for December, 1947—continued

NOTE.—At stations where departures from normal are in parentheses the record has been maintained for less than ten years in the case of temperatures and for less than twenty years in the case of rainfall and the normals are partly interpolated.

WEATHER SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER, 1947

General.—December was a warm dry month with much settled weather. Shearing and haymaking have made excellent progress under favourable conditions. Towards the end of the month pastures were rapidly drying off and milk production was beginning to decline. Stone fruits have ripened well, and the season was reported to be about three weeks in advance of normal. In Canterbury, root crops have been seriously affected by the continued dry weather.

One severe storm whose centre passed close to Southland on the 26th was responsible for widespread gales, the barometer at Campbell Island (south of New Zealand) falling to the unusually low value of 951·6 millibars (28·10 in.) at 6 p.m. on that day.

Rainfall.—Over most of the country rainfall was well below average, the North Canterbury and Gisborne areas being especially dry. Totals were, however, somewhat above average on the Southland coast, the Bay of Plenty, and about the Southern Alps. In the latter area most of the rain fell during the Christmas period, 12·07 in. being recorded at Milford Sound on the 25th. Over the Nelson and Auckland provinces the rainfall was about normal, although the distribution was rather patchy.

Of numerous thunderstorms during the month most were of an isolated local character, but those which occurred in the Auckland Province on the 8th and 9th, in South Otago on the 19th, and in Canterbury on the 21st were more widespread.

Temperatures.—Mean temperatures for the month were above normal. In Central Otago and on the West Coast the excess amounted to two to three degrees, elsewhere it was about a degree less.

Light frosts were reported from the South Island on the 3rd and on the 30th.

Sunshine.—In the southern half of the North Island the duration of sunshine was rather less than the average, Palmerston North being an exception. Nelson, Marlborough, and the Buller District had moderate surpluses, but elsewhere totals did not differ greatly from the average.

Weather Sequence.—An active cold front travelled slowly up the North Island during the first two days of the month, while an anticyclone moved eastwards across the South Island. The weather remained unsettled in the North and gradually deteriorated elsewhere as an extensive and complex disturbance approached from the Central Tasman Sea. North-easterlies prevailed, bringing rain to most places, and some heavy falls to the Coromandel Peninsula and the Bay of Plenty from the 5th to the 7th. After moving on to New Zealand the disturbance slowly lost intensity. The weather cleared in the South Island during the 8th, when an anticyclone was building up over the Island. The clearance extended to most of the North Island on the following day, although some local thunderstorms were reported from the interior. About the Auckland Peninsula and Gisborne showers persisted until the 10th.

A large anticyclone was over New Zealand from the 11th to the 17th, this period being one of brilliantly fine summer weather. On the night of the 15th, however, some brief showers on the Southland coast resulted from the passage of a weak cold front.

With the approach of a depression from the north on the 18th north-easterlies became strong and rain developed in North Auckland. Scattered light rain later extended to other parts of the Auckland Province, but the depression gradually filled up to the north-west of North Cape. Some heavy local thunderstorms were reported from South Otago on the afternoon of the 19th.

A cold front, accompanied by a band of heavy rain, reached Southland at midday on the 20th. Moving steadily north-eastwards it passed off the country on the morning of the 22nd, being followed by a change to cold southerly winds, but a rapid clearance in the weather. Light rains which occurred in western and southern districts of the South Island on the 23rd and 24th were due to a dying depression from the South Tasman Sea.

On the 25th barometers began to fall sharply in the south with the approach of a rapidly deepening depression. Northerlies increased to gale force from Taranaki and Hawke’s Bay southwards. On the morning of the 26th the centre was not far west of Southland, and and moving away rapidly on a south-south-eastward course. Although the weather remained fine and hot on the Canterbury and Hawke’s Bay Plains, most other districts experienced a period of heavy rain, some very heavy falls occurring in and near the Southern Alps. Following the passage of the cold front on the 26th temperatures became somewhat cooler, and winds backed to the west or south-west. Showers persisted for a time in western districts, but gradually ceased as the winds moderated.

On the 29th the centre of an anticyclone moved across the North Island. A cold front associated with a shallow depression to the south gave some rain in Westland and Southland on the 30th. Travelling north-eastwards with diminishing intensity, the front produced only a few scattered showers over the North Island on the following day.

M. A. F. BARNETT, Director.

Notice under the Mining Act, 1926—Mining Privilege held by His Majesty the King surrendered

PURSUANT to subsection (4) of section 97 of the Mining Act, 1926, notice is hereby given that the mining privilege described in the Schedule hereto is surrendered as from the date hereof.

Dated at Wellington, this 3rd day of January, 1948.

A. McLAGAN, Minister of Mines.

SCHEDULE

(Mines 10/23/244.)