New Zealand Gazette – 1974 – No. 53

Page 1094

✨ Climatological Records



CLIMATOLOGICAL TABLE—Summary of the Records of Temperature, Rainfall, and Sunshine for April 1974—continued

Station Height of Station Above M.S.L. Means of A Max. B Min. Mean of A and B Difference From Normal Absolute Maximum and Minimum Rainfall in Millimetres Bright Sunshine
Metres °C °C °C °C Maximum Date Minimum Date Total Fall mm No. of Rain Days
Purukohukohu, March 1974 631 17.4 8.3 12.9 ... 23.7 16 3.0 21 73 11
Minginui Forest, March 1974 366 ... 5.9 ... ... -3.8 22 ... 50 8
Te Kauwhata, March 1974 32 22.0 11.9 17.0 -0.5 26.4 16 4.9 21 36 9
Whakapunake T.V. Station, March 1974 945 12.8 6.3 9.6 ... 20.0 6 -0.4 21 367 ...
Makaretu, March 1974 335 17.9 8.0 13.0 ... 25.2 15 0.5 22 133 17
Foxton, December 1973 3 ... ... ... ... ... ... 37 2
Ohakune, February 1974 610 24.4 11.1 17.8 +3.8 28.0 10 0.4 1 62 7
Ohakune, March 1974 610 18.9 4.2 11.6 -0.9 28.0 16 ... 94 11
Murchison, March 1974 158 21.0 7.6 14.3 ... 27.9 11 -2.2 20 62 7
Otira Substation, January 1974 383 20.1 9.5 14.8 ... 27.5 31 3.4 9 175 8
Otira Substation, February 1974 383 21.8 12.6 17.2 ... 28.0 8 6.0 25 380 14
Otira Substation, March 1974 383 18.3 7.5 12.9 ... 26.5 11 1.5 21 334 9
Moutere Hills, February 1974 137 23.2 15.3 19.3 +2.0 27.2 2 11.7 28 55 6
Moutere Hills, March 1974 137 20.1 11.5 15.8 -0.2 23.6 11 5.0 21 15 7
Craigieburn Forest, March 1974 914 16.3 4.4 10.4 -1.0 23.5 11 -2.6 21 69 10
Camp Stream, March 1974 1,433 11.6 3.8 7.7 -1.1 17.0 6 ... 105 10
Lake Pukaki No. 2, February 1974 556 21.8 11.2 16.5 ... 31.5 1 5.0 1 93 12
Waimate, January 1974 61 21.5 9.9 15.7 -0.1 31.9 6 4.1 10 30 10
Takahe Valley, September 1973 762 8.8 -0.4 4.2 ... 17.6 29 -6.0 9 170 19
Takahe Valley, November 1973 762 11.7 1.9 6.8 ... 19.8 29 -2.5 15 304 23
Takahe Valley, December 1973 762 16.3 4.4 10.4 ... 23.0 15 0.0 19 128 12
Takahe Valley, January 1974 762 16.2 3.9 10.1 ... 24.5 20 -2.8 9 53 14
Takahe Valley, February 1974 762 17.0 7.6 12.3 ... 25.0 1 1.5 25 203 20
Alexandra, March 1974 141 20.3 7.6 14.0 -0.4 28.5 10 -0.5 20 8 5
Moa Flat, March 1974 410 17.2 5.5 11.4 +0.0 25.2 10 ... 22 8
Waitangi, Chatham Islands, March 1974 48 16.0 9.8 12.9 -0.9 18.8 11 6.0 8 93 14
Campbell Island, February 1974 15 12.4 7.0 9.7 +0.5 17.2 13 4.1 22 83 19
Campbell Island, March 1974 15 10.9 5.9 8.4 -0.1 16.2 31 -0.6 12 102 26

The “normal” refers to the present site of the instruments. Standard periods for normals are: Temperature 1931–60, Rainfall 1941–70, Sunshine 1935–60. No normals are available for stations with only short records.

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

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

Where the extremes of temperature and rainfall have occurred more than once during the month, the date of the first occurrence is given.

NOTES ON THE WEATHER FOR APRIL 1974

General—The month was characterised by a high frequency of north-easterly winds, giving very cloudy and wet conditions on the eastern side of the country and above normal temperatures in many areas. The above average rainfall and rather warm conditions resulted in very good grass growth in many districts. In some parts of Hawke’s Bay and Canterbury conditions were too wet for harvesting some crops. In a small area of Northland and in parts of South Auckland, Waikato, Waitomo, and Taumarunui conditions remained dry.

Rainfall—On the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 20th, and 21st there were heavy rainfalls in many parts of the country. On the 16th, 96 mm was recorded in 6 hours in Christchurch; this is double the previous highest 6 hourly rainfall since 1929. A wide area of Canterbury experienced very heavy rainfalls on the 16th. Over three times the normal monthly rainfall was recorded in some parts of Canterbury, Marlborough, Nelson, Wellington, Wairarapa, and Hawke’s Bay. About the Orongorongo Ranges (15 km east of Wellington City) the rainfall was four times the monthly normal.

Temperature—Over the North Island the mean temperature was above normal by about 1 to 2°C. In the South Island the mean temperature was above normal by about 0.5 to 1.5°C. except in parts of Canterbury and Southland where it was slightly below normal. The first 10 days of the month were considerably warmer than the last 20 in most places.

Sunshine—The total duration of sunshine was a little above average in the west of Northland and Auckland and on the West Coast. Elsewhere the totals were low with the east of the North Island and the north-east of the South Island receiving 60% or less of the monthly normal. In some of these areas it was the lowest April sunshine since the 1930s.

Weather Sequence—During the first seven days of the month an intense large anticyclone was centred just east of the Chatham Islands and a northerly flow predominated over New Zealand. There was some rain on each day in the north and west of the country but on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th there were some very heavy falls on the West Coast, about Nelson and Marlborough, and in Northland and Auckland.

From the 7th to 11th a slow moving complex trough of low pressure crossed New Zealand and by the 12th an anticyclone had moved from the Tasman Sea on to the country. The trough brought some rain to most districts except the central and northern North Island regions.



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✨ LLM interpretation of page content

🎓 Climatological Table for Temperature, Rainfall, and Sunshine (continued from previous page)

🎓 Education, Culture & Science
Climatology, Temperature, Rainfall, Sunshine, Weather, April 1974

🎓 Notes on the Weather for April 1974

🎓 Education, Culture & Science
Weather, Rainfall, Temperature, Sunshine, April 1974