HIGH NORTH-WEST WIND

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26020, 25 January 1950, Page 6

HIGH NORTH-WEST WIND

GUSTS OF MORE THAN 50 MILES AN HOUR

Although a high north-west wind blew throughout Canterbury yesterday, with gusts reaching a maximum of 55 miles an hour at Ashburton and 57 miles an hour at Wigram, no serious damage had been reported late last evening A large tree was blown down in the Mount Pleasant Domain, branches and dead wood were scattered in the Christchurch City Council’s reserves, and one or two willows along the Avon lost their branches. The sharp crack of one big branch breaking off a willow tree startled riverbank lunchers shortly before 2 o’clock. Luckily n j one was under the tree. The wind, which reached force 7 on the Beaufort scale during the day, had dropped to a light and variable breeze by 10.30 p.m. The wind was gusting to 32 miles an hour between 10 and 11 a.m. and up to 45 miles an hour between 11.30 and 12.30. It was at its strongest between 1.30 and 2.30, with a maximum gust of 57 miles an hour. at'2.l o p.m. A wind of force 7 on the Beaufort scale is described as “putting whole trees in motion,” and being “an inconvenience when walking against it.’’ This was certainly the case yesterday. More than one cyclist had to get off his bicycle, and even the rider of an autocycle complained that his machine almost stopped at times when he was riding out to Wigram into the teeth of the wind.