STORMY WEEK-END

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 47, 5 December 1938, Page 6

STORMY WEEK-END

HEAVY RAIN EXPERIENCED. CROPPING FURTHER RETARDED. DIFFICULT CONDITIONS PREVAIL TORRENTIAL FALLS IN SOUTH. A week-end of unusually severe conditions was experienced in Mid-Canter-bury and over a wide tract of country reaching as far south as Dunedin. Sultry weather in Ashburton on Saturday afternoon resulted in a damaging whirlwind that swept portions of the business area about 3 o’clock, after which the sky cleared to a large extent. About noon yesterday, however, a change was experienced and heavy rain began to fall, continuing till late into the night, when a strong wind arose.

To-day dawned dull and cold, but the clouds cleared after an hour or so, only to be replaced by further rain clouds. In the Rangitata area there was heavy hail on Saturday afternoon, but while .some damage was done to crops it was not serious.

Thirty-seven points of rain were /recorded in Ashburton yesterday. The maximum temperature was 65.8 degrees, compared with 64.1 degrees om Saturday. The minimum last night was 37 degrees, the lowest reading on Saturday night being 44 degrees. With, the sky still overcast, the barometer stood at 29.-59 inches at 9 o’clock this morning. The reading yesterday was 29.55 inches.

A heavy thunderstorm passed over Hinds and the surrounding districts on Saturday afternoon. Heavy rain followed, while hail and large lumps of ice fell in some places. Considerable damage was done to gardens, while crops also suffered"; Heavy rain set in again yesterday afternoon and lasted until late into the evening. Farmers Anxious. The continued wet spell has caused some anxiety to the farming community in Ashburton County, where crops are somewhat backward for want of sunshine. The ground has not been given a chance to warm up and dry out after the wet winter season, and farmers have stated that it will take a month of clear days to bring the crops to a normal stage of development. Land in the southern portion of the County, saturated and made unworkable for months because of springs and storm water, has been, made more swampy, and it is said that only very warm weather over the next month or six weeks will save many, of the crops. Instances of futile second and third sowings of paddocks in that locality are reported, while several farmers had to abandon the idea of cropping this season. The rainfall for the year has greatly exceeded the average of the last 30 years, the total to date being in the vicinity of 40 inches, whereas the average is 27) inches.

Torrential rain swept the Otago Province on Saturday night, causing flooding and the blocking of many roads by slips, while in South Canterbury a cloudburst occurred near Cave. Snow fell on the high country.

THE WHIRLWIND DAMAGE. SIMILAR HAPPENING IN 1903. Damage done by the whirlwind in Ashburton on Saturday seems to have been confined to the ripping off of roofing iron, the smashing of a. few shop windows and the overthrow of several small sheds and fences, with the centre of the disturbance at the rear of the Arcade. Two premises in Burnett Street lost skylights and the heavy rain yesterday caused some minor flooding, though it is reported tljat no damage was done to stocks. Some of the sheets of iron which were wafted over the town are said to have been lifted from the ruins of the Majestic Theatre. The occurrence brings to mind the tornado which struck Ashburton on January 27, 1903, when several of the lightly-built premises on the west side of the town suffered a good deal of damage. The Farmers’ Co-operative Association’s grain store was most seriously damaged, one end being demolished, while a. timber rack in Tancred Street West, where Messrs Tucker’s delivery office is now, was also deprived of its roof and walls. The iron was tossed well away from the building, while the front wall was thrown out into the middle of the street. Photographs of the damage were brought to the “Guardian” office to-dav.

TO-DAY’S FORECAST. / (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The Government- Meteorologist, at noon to-day, issued the following statement regarding the weather: — General situation : Yesterday’s disturbance is now passing eastward, a deep low pressure centre being located off the cart coast of the North Island. An anticycylone of slight intensity is aproaching across the North Tasman Sea hut a fresh- depression has passed Tasmania. The fonorast for the cart coast of the South Island from Blenheim to Oamaru is as follows: —

Moderate to strong south-westerly winds gradually decreasing. Weather fair to fine and cold with some frosts possible. Seas very rough north of Kaikoura, otherwise rather rough to rough, hut gradually decreasing.