PHENOMENALLY COLD.

Auckland Star, Issue 210, 3 September 1894, Page 2

PHENOMENALLY COLD.

SNOWFALL IN AUCKLAI^. "Is Auckland growing colder?" w^ a question which many citizens were askJw each other yesterday. The weather o\ Saturday and yesterday was the coldest^ and bittereßb on record in this city, and.its severity was most phenomenal. A cold sou'-wesb breeze, which smelt of snow and ice, blew all Saturday, and by yesterday it had freshened into a bitter gale. Severe hail - storms and rain-squalls occurred at i frequent intervals during the day, and hail-stones as large as pigeon's eggs fell in several localities. After one unusually sharp hail-shower, Aucklanders were astonished to see enow falling, the flakes floating down and whitening-' the tops of the trees and shrubs in the more exposed parts of the city. The snowfall only lasted a .few minutes, bub it was watched with interest by those who had never eeen snow before. The force of the wind was exceptionally severe, and some fences in the western part of the city and in the country suffered in consequence. The weather is the sereresb known here for 20 years, if nob longer. Snow is known to have fallen as far north aa Mahurangi, within the pasb 40 years. Electricity was in the air on Saturday yesterday, and lightning and thunde*" we frequent. c colony The weather throughon*,^ tter seems to have been P^P ter d a y, as our on -Saturday a^^. At the Thames, Southern tele^r»» enoed waß bifcter , Mldj the weather^ owm of raill and west erly wl T th s iJOAt Wellington, yesterday affcer£*oni' there was a fall of snow, followed by sharp showers of rain. Ab Dunedin there was a heavy fall of snow on • Saturday, and yesterday morning it lay fully six inches deep. A thaw set in, bub there were frequent showers of enow and hail throughout the day. At Chrietchurch and Invercargill yesterday snow fell heavily, and ab daybreak fche ground was covered to a depth of several inches. ; j