NEW VIEWS ON WEATHER

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21990, 14 January 1937, Page 8

NEW VIEWS ON WEATHER

PAPERS READ AT SCIENCE CONGRESS DISCUSSIONS BEGUN BY ALL, SECTIONS (PRESS i.SSOCI*.TIOX TELEGRiH.) . \ AUCKLAND, January 13. ■ ’ Hundreds of members attending the ’ congress of the Australian, and New„> Zealand Association for the Advance* ■'*4 ment of Science gathered at Auckland ’ - University College, -when a programme of addresses, papers, and discussions' was begun by all 16 sections. Almost all the accommodation in the college ■ buildings had been handed over far- , the use of the congress and the lec-' ture rooms in the arts and science, ' blocks, and the school of engineering l . were in use throughout the day. The* zoology section met in the old Gram.” mar School. “Remarkable advances have beenV made in the last 10 years in our know-' ledge of the state of the earth’s atmos-* v phere by the study of wireless wavgk. reflected in the ionosphere,” said Pro-'.' fessor J. P. V. Madsen in his presidential address to the mathematics- . and physics section. “It is because ' of this reflection that we can hear-" radio transmissions from the other aider of the globe.” - nfit? “The gales which occurred over the, Auckland province in February and •'* March last year have been equalled ia intensity by only one other gale In the. "? present century,” said Dr. M. A -K.-'v Barnett, in a lecture on the recent - cyclonic storms delivered before the-. 1 mathematics and physics section.' - Storms generally approached the DoS' \ minion from the north-westerly dfeosT ‘ tion, he said, and, as their rate of jaw- f f gression was fairly steady, their pn>£ -; gress could be forecast. , , {■ t In the February gale, however, the ? storm centre, after giving indications jt of waning intensity, suddenly veloped renewed vigour, and, chang-i ing its course to a direct southerly cne,s . swept down on the North Island -with";; remarkably increased velocity. As the gale involved a “front” region of wand air impinging on a cold area, the rain-' fall was considerable and widespread,*! as much as 10 inches being at many places on the east coast. though the Dominion itself was suit-j; ably covered by meteorological tions, to the north of New Zealand?, stations were few and scattered, and* some did rot report regularly. A comparison of the climates various places in New Zealand regard-i. ing human comfort in a paper by Dr ? Macky'in the mathematics and section raised some very interesting v points. From the point of view'of human comfort, disregarding humidity, and with conclusions based on ipcortbr obtained with a Kata-thermometer, tie -, most bracing climate in New Zealand was enjoyed by Wellington, which ■ throughout the year had weather mow*: bracing even than that at the Henm-V----tage, Mount-Cook. Auckland occupied'', only the fifth position on the list of : : 12 -stations for which records .were-' available. Hanmer, at the bottom’ of ’ the list, proved its suitability as a site for a sanatorium by the generally.: warm weather there. Auckland had no days which mighty be classed as very warm, on which manual exertion became unpleasant, A large proportion of its days.could behjf termed “bracing.” At Wellington, how-? ever, most days could,? Be .: classed as“ “very bracing.” In lS36 ; Afiikiand had no days classed as “cold”'or,.“very COld.”' ' ■ ,