2668
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE
No. 97

CLIMATOLOGICAL TABLE—Summary of the Records of Temperature, Rainfall, and Sunshine for October 1972—continued

LATE RETURNS

Woodlands, Sep. 1972 .. | 47 | 13.2 | 4.6 | 8.9 | .. | 19.6 | 6 | 2.1 | 17 | 183 | 28 | .. | 27 | 14 | ..

The “normal” refers to the present site of the instruments. The standard periods for normals are: for temperature 1931–60, for rainfall 1921–50, and for sunshine 1935–60. No normals are available for stations with only short records.

*The sunshine recorder is not located at the station but in the near vicinity.

A rain day is a day with rainfall equal to or greater than 0.1 mm.

NOTES ON THE WEATHER FOR OCTOBER 1972

General—October, like September, was marked by a somewhat greater frequency of winds from a westerly quarter than usual; and it was a very windy month in many parts of the South Island. It was also a warm month, and was particularly warm and sunny in Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay. In these two districts especially and in some other parts of the North Island more rain was needed. However, good rains relieved comparatively dry conditions in Northland and Canterbury. Stock were in good condition apart from some reports of bloat.

Rainfall—Rainfall was mainly above normal over the South Island and also in Northland and parts of Auckland. On the Canterbury Plains, around Christchurch, and in inland Central and North Canterbury and Buller it was above normal by more than 50 percent.

Rainfall was below normal over the remainder of the North Island and over the greater part of Otago, with some of Southland. Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, and most of Hawke’s Bay had less than three-quarters of the normal value.

By far the wettest period was from the 6th to the 9th, during the passage of a slow-moving trough with associated small depressions. The rainfall at Otira for the 6th and 7th was 341 mm and for the 6th, 7th, and 8th 412 mm. Some flooding was reported especially on the West Coast and in parts of Canterbury.

Temperatures—Temperatures were mainly above normal and the departures amounted to more than 1°C in Gisborne with most of Hawke’s Bay and parts of Bay of Plenty, also in parts of Marlborough and Nelson. Gisborne had its warmest October in 36 years of observation.

Sunshine—Sunshine was close to normal over the greater part of the country. However, there were some wide variations from normal. While Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay besides Marlborough were favoured with 50–85 hours above normal, the West Coast with parts of Manawatu had 30–55 hours below normal. Gisborne had 285 hours but Levin had only 104 hours.

Weather Sequence—On the first day of October an anticyclone covered the eastern Tasman Sea and the North Island, with settled weather apart from some rain in South Westland and Fiordland. A trough of low pressure crossed the South Island during the 2nd and 3rd, causing rain to spread to the remainder of the West Coast, with some light falls also in some western districts of the North Island and on the Southland coast. On the following day the front crossed the North Island, bringing some light rain in the west, while the weather cleared over the South Island.

On the 5th the weather deteriorated again in the west and far south of the South Island with the approach of a slow-moving trough of low pressure from the south-west, while rain persisted in western districts of the North Island. As this trough slowly advanced over the country small depressions formed on it, and the period from the 6th to the 9th was by far the wettest of the whole month. At first the heaviest falls were in Westland, Canterbury, and Nelson with some flooding, especially on the West Coast. However, the rain was particularly welcome in Canterbury. On the 9th there were considerable falls in parts of the North Island with Northland especially benefiting. As the depression moved away to the south-east on the 10th the weather cleared over the South Island, but light rain persisted in the north.