FROST AND FOG

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 167, 17 July 1941, Page 9

FROST AND FOG

WINTRY SHARPNESS

ICE FORMS ON CAR ROOFS Winter played a lively tune in Auckland this morning—a tune which set people stamping, gasping and chafing chilled hands. There have been frosts every morning this week, but to-day's effort made the others look like slightly chilled dew. Three degrees were recorded at Albert Park by the Government observer, and this is the hardest yet, one more than yesterday. Ice formed on the roofs and windshields of parked motor cars, and Auckland's hills were clothed with white rime. The frost on Mount Victoria, Mount Eden and Mount Hobson was visible for quite a distance just before sunrise. The North Shore suburbs experienced their most severe frost for many a patch of green being visible in many paddocks, and the roofs of houses being frozen white Even in such districts as Mission Bay and Heme Bay there was an unusually hard frost which extended right down to the sea.

In suburbs further from the sea it was even harder, and traces remained in shaded places until after mid.y* Many puddles were covered with thin films of ice, and the stiffened grass crackled audibly under one's feet. Even the pavements in places were covered with a white film, which was up to a quarter of an inch thick on some fence railings.

Pukekohe, Hamilton and other parts of the province also experienced very heavy frosts, and it is feared that crops of early potatoes may have been seriously damaged. Dense Fog As if the heaviest frost of the vear was not sufficient, Auckland ' last night experienced the first fog since the imposition of the reduced lighting regulations. Motorists' visibility yvas very limited by a heavy blanket !n some districts, and some drivers found themselves in difficulties on the Great South Road. The extinguishing of the right-hand headlight orevented drivers from steering by the bitumen line in the centre of the concrete road surface, while the lipping of the other light rendered it difficult to see the edge of the road through the murk. Cars had to crawl along, and some drivers confessed that they lost their bearings completely when negotiating bends, and had to stop on occasions.

Early this morning low-lving localities and the harbour were covered by a dense fog. From shortly after 7 a.m. sirens could be heard from vessels on the harbour, and the warning bells were ringing on the ends of the wharves. Ferry boats were compelled to travel verV cautiously, sounding their sirens frequently. The boat which left Devonport at 7.35 a.m. nosed through I,£ at rer}uce d speed. Sirens could be heard from several directions, and when the boat was about in the middle of the harbour a Devonport-bound ferry, also travelling very slowly, loomed out of the gloom dead ahead. Both the ferries went quickly into reverse and stopped with a few yards to spare After some manoeuvring each proceeded on its course while the passengers exchanged facetious comments across the short intervening space of water. This particular trip lasted about half an hour, although it usually takes less than 15 minutes. Other ferries were similarly delayed, numbers of city workers arriving late.

,- J r Tl l e f , og was ra Pidly dispersed, and lifted shortly after sunrise.