HIGH N.W. WIND

Press, Volume C, Issue 29672, 16 November 1961, Page 17

HIGH N.W. WIND

Two Airports Affected

Strong north-west winds with gusts up to 45 knots at times swept Canterbury yesterday and affected both Wellington's Rongotai airport and the Invercargill airport. The National Airways Corporation’s operations office at Harewood reported that Invercargill airport was closed after the first flight out yesterday morning, and passengers were taken to and from Taieri by road. After 1 p.m. DCS aircraft were diverted from Rongotai and operated for the rest of the day through Paraparaumu. According to the Weather Office at Harewood, Christchurch had a calm night and awoke to a light north-eas-terly which veered to northwest at 11.45 a.m. The nor’wester was moderate, averaging 17 knots at first, but by 3.15 p.m. the average speed had increased to 20 knots. The speed increased to 26 knots and after 3.30 p.m. it reached its peak average speed of 36 knots with gusts of 45 knots. This was short-lived, and by 4 pm. the wind had died to an average speed of 22 knots. The gusts in the afternoon whipped up dust-storms from the many very dry areas of the province, and in the city the Post Office's faultmen were kept busy repairing 200 service lines which had been twisted or broken by the wind. But it caused no trouble to the Municipal Electricity Department or the New Zealand Electricity Department. The City Council parks and reserves department had no reports of any damage to trees.