New Zealand Gazette – 1980 – No. 10

Page 336

✨ Climatological Data



14 FEBRUARY
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE
335

CLIMATOLOGICAL TABLE—Summary of the Records of Temperature, Rainfall, and Sunshine for December 1979—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 Difference From Normal Absolute Maximum and Minimum Total Fall No. of Rain Days Difference From Normal Maximum Fall
A Max. B Min. Mean of A and B °C Max. °C Date Min. °C Date mm mm
Mount Bruce Reserve, November 1979 305 18.9 8.5 13.7 +1.7 22.5 25 0.5 16 123 .. ..
Waingawa, Masterton, November 1979 114 20.8 8.7 14.8 +1.2 25.0 27 1.8 5 71 10 +2
Wharerata Forest, November 1979 439 17.7 10.1 13.9 .. 25.2 27 5.0 6 83 8 ..
Kapiti Island, August 1979 16 11.6 7.4 9.5 -0.2 14.4 1 3.4 8 112 23 +18
Kapiti Island, October 1979 16 15.3 10.2 12.8 +0.3 19.8 30 5.9 23 169 17 +70
Kairanga, Palmerston North, November 1979 15 19.5 10.3 14.9 +1.1 22.5 18 4.6 11 92 13 ..
Grasslands, Palmerston North, November 1979 34 19.4 11.2 15.3 +1.1 23.3 27 5.0 16 105 11 +26
Foxton, November 1979 3 17.9 .. .. .. 20.4 12 .. .. 81 12 +15
Porirua, November 1979 94 18.7 12.0 15.4 +1.1 21.0 28 5.6 6 99 21 -27
Cape Egmont, November 1979 8 18.7 12.0 15.4 +1.1 21.0 28 5.6 6 99 21 -27
Manaia Dem. Farm, November 1979 98 18.4 9.5 14.0 +0.7 22.5 29 3.3 16 57 14 -34
Wanganui Airport, November 1979 43 20.1 10.8 15.5 .. 25.2 13 3.6 13 56 10 ..
Puysegur Point, November 1979 914 14.9 9.3 12.1 +0.9 19.5 25 6.3 16 78 14 +2
Waihopai Power Station, November 1979 262 19.4 8.7 14.1 +1.0 23.9 27 1.0 10 67 11 +1
Craigieburn Forest, November 1979 107 18.1 8.8 13.5 +0.2 23.5 12 4.5 16 54 10 -12
Winchmore, November 1979 3 19.7 9.2 14.5 .. 27.0 27 2.8 10 29 4 ..
Adair, November 1979 85 17.4 9.6 13.5 +0.8 25.5 27 5.7 6 43 13 -13
Herbert Forest, November 1979 61 17.4 7.3 12.4 +0.9 29.0 27 3.8 16 43 13 -44
Cherry Farm Hospital, November 1979 6 17.5 7.9 13.0 .. 26.2 27 2.3 15 41 17 ..
Invermay, Taieri, November 1979 30 18.0 7.9 13.0 .. 26.2 27 2.3 15 41 17 ..
Ophir, November 1979 305 19.5 7.3 13.4 +1.0 25.4 26 0.4 16 25 9 -12
Moa Creek, November 1979 427 19.3 5.3 12.3 +1.3 25.0 27 -0.5 16 29 13 -13
Alexandra, November 1979 141 21.4 8.8 15.1 +1.3 27.6 27 4.0 16 15 21 -4
Gore, November 1979 123 17.4 8.2 12.8 +1.2 23.7 13 2.5 16 13 12 ..
Owaka, November 1979 5 17.2 7.2 12.2 .. 25.0 13 -0.1 4 11 12 ..
Totokaitu, Rarotonga, November 1979 9 .. 20.2 .. .. .. .. 14.8 9 139 13 ..
Scott Base, Antarctica, September 1979 16 -21.4 -33.4 -27.4 +0.8 -11.2 5 -45.0 17 .. .. ..
Scott Base, Antarctica, October 1979 16 -19.8 -32.0 -25.9 -3.1 -12.2 12 -39.5 6 .. .. ..

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 1979

General—In December pressures were below normal over the whole of New Zealand, more especially in the South Island. Winds were predominantly from a westerly quarter, with a greater frequency than usual of strong gusty winds. At Kelburn, Wellington there were 11 days with gusts of at least 96 km/h (52 knots), and this is the greatest number recorded in any December since records began at this station in 1953. Conditions were wetter than usual throughout most of the country, with temperatures slightly above normal.

In the North Island rain at the end of the month helped to revive grass growth which earlier had been slow. Haymaking and shearing were behind schedule owing to wet weather in many areas, but in Hawke’s Bay and Bay of Plenty ground conditions had become very dry. Throughout the South Island grass growth was good in most districts apart from Canterbury where north-west winds had dried pastures. Stock was reported to be in good condition in most districts of New Zealand.

Rainfall—The only areas with rainfall below normal for the month were, parts of Bay of Plenty, northern Hawke’s Bay and coastal Canterbury. Some areas in these districts had less than 50 percent of their usual December total. The wettest areas were Poverty Bay, inland Canterbury, Otago, and parts of Southland where rainfalls of more than 100 percent above normal were recorded. Apart from heavy rain in the South Island at the beginning of the month, the wettest period in most districts was from the 26th until the end of the month.

On the 2nd heavy rain fell in many western and southern districts of the South Island. The heaviest falls were mainly during the afternoon and evening. At Otira 215 mm were recorded in 12 hours and at the Hermitage, Mount Cook 537 mm in the 24-hour period to 9 a.m. on the 3rd, this being the highest one day total recorded in any month at this station since October 1942 (559 mm). The Waimakariri and Rakaia rivers reached their highest peak since 1957 after this period of heavy rain.



Next Page →

PDF embedding disabled (Crown copyright)

View this page online at:


VUW Te Waharoa — PDF NZ Gazette 1980, No 10


NZLII — PDF NZ Gazette 1980, No 10




✨ LLM interpretation of page content

🎓 Climatological Table for December 1979 (continued from previous page)

🎓 Education, Culture & Science
Climatology, Temperature, Rainfall, Sunshine, December 1979

🎓 Weather Notes for December 1979

🎓 Education, Culture & Science
Weather, Rainfall, Temperature, December 1979