RAINFALL VAGARIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 89, 14 April 1923, Page 7

RAINFALL VAGARIES.

HALF-INCH TO NEARLY TWO FEET.

Rainfall records are rather startling things to people that are not accustomed to sizing up moisture in more precise terms than "We have been having a good drop of rain lately," or "Country is looking mighty parched after this long spell of dry." These figures are embalmed every month in the "New Zealand Gazette." "and they make most interesting reading. They showthat during the month of February the Dominion ranged from almost drought conditions in one part, to something tropical at another. Taking Auckland as a place where we are familiar with the conditions, we find that the months rainfall was 3.48 inches, which was very damp for the usually scorching month.Kaitaia. North Auckland, is at the bottom of the list with only a shade over half on inch. At the other end of the scale is Otira, with 20.29 incnes. Only four places in the North Island run into* double figures—Putara, Mangahao (where the hydro-electric works are under construction), Eketahuna, and Summit (on the Rimutaka incline). The South Island has seven stations where double figures were registered. The wet West Coast, of course, comes first, and after Otira there is Okuru with 14.77 inches. Puvsegur Point, 14.13. Lake Kanieri 13.95, Ross (Westland) 12.30, and at Arthur's Pass there is a fall of 12.48 r.oatria*. I