19 JULY
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE
3121

CLIMATOLOGICAL TABLE—Summary of the Records of Temperature, Rainfall, and Sunshine for May 1985—continued

The “normal” refers to the present site of the instruments. Standard period for normals is 1951–1980. 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 rainday 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.

THE WEATHER IN NEW ZEALAND FOR MAY 1985

General—May was dry in most regions, with mean temperatures below normal in northern North Island areas, but about average elsewhere.

Over northern districts of the North Island winds from the easterly quarterly prevailed, with south-easterlies being most frequent for May since at least 1956. Over the South Island south-westerlies were a little more frequent than usual. Very high winds occurred in the Wellington and Kaikoura areas during a very severe southerly storm from the 14th to the 16th. Some of the maximum gusts recorded during this storm were (kilometres per hour):

Wellington Airport .. 132 Kelburn (Wellington) .. 141
Castlepoint .. 135 Kaikoura .. 139

A hill station (Beacon Hill), situated above the Wellington Heads recorded a maximum gust on the 15th of 193 kph.

Considerable damage to suburbs adjacent to Cook Strait was reported and the high winds resulted in the closure of Wellington Airport and the cancellation of Cook Strait ferry sailings.

On the 28th fog delayed flights for 2000 passengers at Auckland Airport.

Very dry conditions continued this month in parts of Canterbury and Otago until the 13th when some welcome rain fell. This made some improvement in pasture growth, although some paddocks are still very bare and grass growth has been stopped by frosts. Some farmers report winter feed reserves as being low and some stock had to be sold because of the drought. In Taranaki, Manawatu and Nelson rather dry conditions meant little grass growth and early feeding out of hay to sheep and cattle. Over the rest of the country pasture and stock condition has been good.

Some light snow fell in parts of Otago during the 13th to the 16th.

Mean sea level pressures were above average over the whole country with Christchurch and Invercargill being 10 hectopascals higher than normal. On the 29th and 30th an unusually intense anticyclone was situated to the east of the South Island and a mean sea level pressure of 1043.6 hectopascals was recorded at Christchurch Airport on the 29th. This is the highest recorded pressure in Christchurch during the past 24 years.

Rainfall—Rainfall was below average for much of New Zealand except in parts of Northland, Gisborne, and in Southland.

In North Otago and South Canterbury very dry conditions were alleviated a little during the 14th and 15th with the first substantial rain since February this year.

Oamaru recorded 35 percent of normal, Queenstown 30 percent and Alexandra 15 percent of normal.

Other very dry places were:

New Plymouth .. 15 percent Blenheim .. 30 percent
Ohakea .. 16 percent Nelson .. 22 percent
Palmerston North .. 27 percent Farewell Spit .. 20 percent
Lake Rototi .. 15 percent

During the 22nd and 23rd some very heavy falls of rain fell in parts of Auckland and Southern Northland resulting in flooding. This was due to a stationary depression situated off Cape Reinga. Warkworth recorded a total of 200 mm, 141 mm fell in Auckland City and 113 mm at Auckland Airport in the 24-hour period. Warkworth recorded 193 percent, Auckland City 164 percent and Gisborne 165 percent of normal for the months rainfall. The total for Auckland City this month is the highest for May since records began in 1963.

Temperatures—Over the North Island mean temperatures were about normal except for areas north of about Hamilton where they were 1°C below normal. In some Auckland and southern Northland places night time temperatures were 1.5°C below normal.

Over the South Island mean temperatures were near normal, apart from Otago where they were 0.5°C colder and night time temperatures were between 0.5°C and 1.0°C colder than normal. On the West Coast temperatures were warmer by about 1°C.

Sunshine—Sunshine was above average over most of the country apart from Rotorua, Gisborne and Marlborough. Among those stations which had the greatest departures this month are:

Hokitika (+54 hours, the largest for May since 1943),
Auckland City (+51 hours, the greatest since records began in 1930),
Ruakura (+47 hours, the greatest since 1946),
Westport (+47 hours, the greatest since 1947),
Gisborne (–28 hours),
Blenheim (–32 hours).

J. S. HICKMAN, Director.