New Zealand Gazette – 1979 – No. 8

Page 275

✨ Climatological Data



8 FEBRUARY

THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE

275

CLIMATOLOGICAL TABLE—Summary of the Records of Temperature, Rainfall, and Sunshine for December 1978—continued
LATE RETURNS AND CORRECTIONS—continued

Station Height of Station Above M.S.L. Air Temperatures in Degrees Celsius Rainfall in Millimetres Bright Sunshine
Metres Means of A Max. °C B Min. °C Mean of A and B °C Difference From Normal °C Absolute Maximum and Minimum °C Total Fall mm No. of Rain Days Difference From Normal mm Maximum Fall Amount mm Date
Portland Island, November 1978 78 17.5 12.5 15.0 -0.1 22.3 23 14 9 -29 8 11
Kapiti Island, October 1978 16 15.4 8.9 12.2 -0.3 18.1 29 113 13 +14 39 19
Wharite Peak, November 1978 814 11.9 4.8 8.4 +0.2 18.7 30 183 15 +20 96 11
Kairanga, Palmerston North, November 1978 15 18.7 8.5 13.6 -0.2 25.5 30 70 11 .. 44 11
Taita, Lower Hutt, November 1978 65 17.4 10.1 13.8 +0.2 24.6 30 103 9 -1 21 10
Somes Island, November 1978 43 16.6 10.5 13.6 .. 24.5 30 68 9 .. 27 11
Cape Egmont, November 1978 8 17.9 11.1 14.5 +0.2 20.9 29 65 12 -37 22 11
Kahui, Taihape, November 1978 518 18.2 8.0 13.1 +0.3 25.7 29 78 12 .. 27 11
Karamea, November 1978 5 16.4 10.0 13.2 +0.3 19.3 21 132 17 -27 23 14
Totara Flat, November 1978 77 18.3 8.0 13.2 .. 26.0 30 161 25 -22 30 23
Hari Hari, November 1978 45 16.6 7.8 12.2 +0.0 22.0 30 279 18 -140 33 14
Puysegur Point, November 1978 43 13.9 .. .. .. 20.9 9 181 25 -28 67 22
The Hermitage, Mount Cook, November 1978 765 16.1 3.7 10.0 +0.5 25.8 27 112 17 -28 29 14
Craigieburn Forest, November 1978 914 16.2 5.6 14.5 .. 29.5 28 25 7 .. 10 15
Waipara, November 1978 64 20.1 8.8 14.5 +0.1 30.2 20 31 6 -17 9 15
Rangiora, November 1978 46 19.7 7.2 13.5 -0.2 29.4 28 37 8 -16 13 15
Lincoln, November 1978 11 19.1 7.7 13.4 +0.7 27.4 28 28 6 -28 13 12
Adair, November 1978 85 18.8 8.0 13.4 +0.5 28.9 27 49 8 +1 12 15
Tara Hills, Omarama, November 1978 61 19.0 5.8 12.4 +0.9 26.5 19 25 6 -62 11 12
Ophir, November 1978 305 19.3 5.4 12.4 +0.0 28.3 30 25 5 -13 8 14
Moa Creek, September 1978 427 12.4 -0.8 5.8 -0.2 16.0 22 50 .. +27 64 13
Moa Creek, October 1978 427 15.8 2.3 9.1 +0.1 22.0 28 90 .. +54 7 1
Moa Creek, November 1978 427 18.8 4.1 11.5 +0.7 29.0 30 24 5 -14 10 15
Alexandra, November 1978 141 20.9 8.1 14.5 +0.7 30.9 30 25 11 -8 8 22
Mahinerangi Dam, November 1978 396 16.0 5.1 10.6 +0.5 25.8 27 38 12 -51 9 15
Nugget Point, November 1978 129 15.3 6.8 11.1 +0.4 25.3 19 59 15 -20 10 15
Tautuku, November 1978 61 16.9 7.0 12.0 .. 25.3 20 96 .. .. 15 3
Waitangi, Chatham Island, November 1978 44 14.2 8.7 11.5 -0.1 18.3 21 21 14 +13 6 12
Campbell Island, November 1978 15 9.9 4.8 7.4 -0.5 13.9 16 120 24 .. 21 29
Nandi Airport, Fiji, November 1978 15 30.5 20.5 25.5 .. 33.8 16 76 13 .. 47 24
Totokoitua, Rarotonga, November 1978 9 25.9 22.0 24.0 .. 29.0 1 20.0 16 637 21 ..

The “normal” refers to the present site of the instruments. Standard period for normals is 1941–1970. 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.

WEATHER NOTES FOR DECEMBER 1978

General—December was the first month since July with pressures below normal over the whole of New Zealand. Winds were predominantly westerly during the month, with a period of strong northwest winds on the 21st and 22nd. Most of the country experienced warm, dry, sunny conditions, but some areas in the South Island were slightly wetter than usual. Some rain early in the month produced good grass growth in most areas, but towards the end of the month farmers reported that conditions were becoming dry. Haymaking was delayed by wet weather but progressed well towards the end of the month, with good crops in most areas. Stock was reported to be in good condition, with dairy production above average.

Rainfall—The only areas with rainfall appreciably above normal were Canterbury, Otago and parts of Southland. Parts of Poverty Bay and Hawke’s Bay had less than 50 percent of their normal month’s rainfall. In Canterbury and Otago some districts had more than double the usual December total. The highest totals were in Christchurch and Banks Peninsula area. Christchurch Airport recorded their highest December total since the station began in 1943.

On the 10th heavy rain caused flooding in parts of South Canterbury and North Otago. Snow was reported in Central Otago down to 1300 m. At Naseby snow was lying to a depth of 7.5 m. Roads south of Timaru were flooded when 28 mm of rain fell in the period from 1 p.m. on the 10th to 5 a.m. on the 11th. Areas of Canterbury had a severe thunderstorm on the afternoon of the 10th during which 13 mm was recorded in 10 minutes at Christchurch Airport.

Between noon and 1 p.m. on the 10th a severe thunderstorm passed over the Wellington area, and 16 mm was recorded at Kelburn in this period. A 10-minute fall of more than 12 mm was measured, which has only been exceeded once before since the station began in 1928, and this occurred in 1935.



Next Page →

PDF embedding disabled (Crown copyright)

View this page online at:


VUW Te Waharoa — PDF NZ Gazette 1979, No 8


NZLII — PDF NZ Gazette 1979, No 8




✨ LLM interpretation of page content

🎓 Climatological Table for December 1978 (continued from previous page)

🎓 Education, Culture & Science
Climatology, Temperature, Rainfall, Sunshine, December 1978

🎓 Weather Notes for December 1978

🎓 Education, Culture & Science
Weather, Rainfall, Flooding, Snow, December 1978