THE WEATHER.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17057, 31 January 1921, Page 8

THE WEATHER.

A WINTRY WEEK-END.

After-early Indications of a Hot, sultry day. the weather, notable for its incousisteaoies locally daring the past low weeks, took another whimsical turn -hortly before nine on Saturday morning, when a violent south-west thunderstorm sprang up. For some time rain .uhl hail in unlimited quantities took l>oascssion of the streets from the sumtnor clad office-workere who gathered im »iM>rea under the verandahs, trying to pluck up courage to run. the gauntlet of the downpour. After a period of thunder and lightning, the storm eased off slightly into a persistent fall of rain, which continued, with occasional lapses into .short, intense downpours, until the nfiernoon, when weather cleared for * time. In spite of this .{he day was Altogether spoiled for outside gatherings, and the New Brighton Gala—an annual sacrifice to Jupiter J3nd other functions had to be postponed Rain recommenced late on Saturday night, and yesterday the weather ivas a series of frequent and heavy vhowers. l«st night the periods between showers gradually lessened, and :ifter nine o'clock rain fell without intermission. Prom Saturday morning until early this morning a little over an inch and a ialf of rain Bad fallen. Heavy rain and a strong southerly «Uo commenced at Lyttelton on Saturday morning, 'and continued all day. During Saturday night there were Ire«iuent heavy showers of had. .There was an exceptionally high tide, and a fair amount of sea running in the harlionr on Saturday, and the jobble broke across the lower breastwork in one or two places. All shipping has been delayed, the Maori and tne Trewellard being the only vessels to arrive yesterday. The Flora, which 'left Wellington on Saturday afternoon for Lyttelton, «ot no further than Wellington Heads, and then put back until the weather moderates. ' ', -" The weather at Ashburton broke fine on Saturday morning, and up to about ti.45 o'clock there was every appearauce of its remaining fine for the rest of the day. At 7 o'clock, however, the wind suddenly shifted round to the sou'-west, and brought up heavy masses of dense clouds heavily -charged with moisture. The rain commenced to fall stadily at first, but by 8 o'clock it was sim&y teeming down. It continued without intornussion till 2 p.m., when there was a cessation and a temporary gleam of sunshine. Rain commenced to fall again before 3 o'clock, and there were heavy intermittent showers for the remainder of the afternoon. ' The total fall for the day was about 0.70 m. There was heavy rain jn the early morning all through the Mayfield, Mount Soniers, Springburn,. Stavely, and Alford districts. The fall will have a very beneficial effect in further stimulating the growth of tho grass pastures, the rape, turnip, mangold, potato, and other root crops, and go a. long way towards ensuring a plentiful supply of teed for all classes of stock well into the autumn, and in all probability through the winter. It will put a check on all harvest operations, which were m foil swing, reaping, stooking, carting, and threshing having been earned on simultaneously in various parts of the district during the week. Speaking j the crops throughout the dis-j trict are patchy, and some of them are unusually short in the straw, and the (toads are by no means well filled. On tho, other hand there are a lot of good wheat crops to bo seen all through the Coldstream, Longbeach, Eiffelton, Villowby, Flemington, and Wheatstone district*. There are also some particularly P°°d wheat crops to "be seen through the Riverside .district, and away further north, on the famous wheat-growing lands of the Wakanui And Elgin districts. Going from Ashimrton up the Alford Forest road, through the Winchmore districts, and ;iway through that big stretch of country formerly known as the Springfield district, there are many crops of wheat which should thresh out quite 40, 45,1 iind in a few instances up to 50 bushels in acre. There are a lot of good crops also on a number of the farms up the liaghmor road, away across through the

Weaterfield, the Upper Hinds, and again back through the Ashburton Forks' district. It is hard as yet to judge what the general average yield for the whole of the Ashburton County will be, but it is fairly safe to venture the opinion that the total yield, will be from eight to ten bushels per acre less than last harvest, when the total return was equal to any of the previous best and most favourable seasons, fhe weather continued showery till late in the evening, when there was a break in the clouds. The night was very cold, and a biting southerly breeze blew yesterday but no further ram fell. Ine total fall for January has been 2.62 m, rain fell on eleven days during the month, the highest being 0.65 in on the 16th, and 0.62 in on the 25th. There was a heavy fall of enow on the back and front ranges during Saturday, and as shearing" operations were in full swing, it is feared that the newly-shorn sheep will have Buffered severely.