Snow And Rain Fall After North-West Wind

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30442, 16 May 1964, Page 14

Snow And Rain Fall After North-West Wind

A strong north-west wind which swept Canterbury' yesterday morning changed to a cold south-westerly in the afternoon, bringing the first appreciable amount of rain to the province for more than a month. Snow fell in the Darfield to Oxford area.

Rain started falling at about 4.30 p.m. and by 11 p.m. ,77in had been recorded at Christchurch airport. Since April 11, when ,44in was recorded at the airport, there has not been a rainfall greater than ,05in on any one day and the total rainfall for the year up to 9 a.m. yesterday was 5.01 in —about 2in less than the average.

Most of this rain fell on March 11 and 12, and April 4 and 5. The north-west wind reached a peak shortly before 9.30 a.m. yesterday when a gust of 60 miles an hour was recorded at the airport. The wind averaged 35 miles an hour until it changed to the south-west about 2.45 p.m.

From this direction the wind was also blustery, and within half an hour gusts of up to 52 rfiiles an hour were being recorded. The wind exhausted itself later in the afternoon when light rain began to fall. TEMPERATURE DROP

The most notable feature the wind-change was a dramatic drop in temperature—from the day’s peak of 68 degrees at 1 p.m. to 48 degrees at 4 p.m. At 9 p.m. the wind changed again to the north-west, but was described by a spokesman at the weather office as being only a local change

Autumn leaves which were blown off trees by the northwest wind in the morning collected in drains and gutters, causing minor flooding in many parts of the city when rain started.

No trouble was experienced by the Christchurch Drainage Board. Its staff was called on to clear only four or five gratings' where stormwater was being blocked by leaves. •

At Oxford there was snow to a depth of jin to lin lying on the ground in the township last evening, and at View Hill, just out of Oxford, snow was 2in deep. Snow weighing down trees in the Coopers Creek-View Hill area interfered with power lines and the fault was not expected to be traced by the North Canterbury Electric Power Board until this morning. RAIN WELCOME

At Darfield there was about lin of snow on the ground. It started falling at about 5 p.m. and stopped at 9.30 p.m. The snow was more than 2in deep at Sheffield.

Farmers in the area said a light rainfall about three days ago had helped growth and they had not been as badly affected by the dry spell as some other areas. Yesterday’s rain was still welcome, but not the snow.

There were light falls of snow in the Ashburton back country. Snow fell at Stavely and came to within four or five miles of Methven. Heavy rain which caused some flooding in Ashburton streets eased later in the evening.

For weeks now almost the whole of the province has suffered from the absence of

adequate autumn rains and from drying north-westerly winds. Everywhere feed supplies are short and some farmers have had to reduce the size of their flocks or run some of their ewe flock dry. Worthwhile rain will be widely welcomed by farmers. However, at this time of the year they will not expect much growth after it. although so far the winter has been reasonably mild. I LITTLE GROWTH

At Waikari between 5.30 p.m. and 9 p.m. yesterday, .14in of rain fell. There had been a hard north-west wind for most of the day, and there was a calm of 15 minutes before the rain started. A Waikari farmer said there had been little or no growth this autumn because of lack of rain. He said that the period from January 1 to

April 30 this year had been the driest four months in Waikari for 40 years, with only 5.14 in of rain recorded. Rain fell at Hanmer on Thursday night. A strong north-west wind blew yesterday morning and the rain started again at about 7 p m. There was no snow. Waimate also reported heavy rain but no snow.

Floodwaters in the Waimakariri river had receded yesterday with no damage caused to stopbanks. The chief engineer of the North Canterbury Catchment Board (Mr H. M. Reid) said that last night’s rain would keep the river up a little, but no trouble was expected. CLEARING DELAYED

Rain delayed clearing operations on the Otira Gorge road, which is not expected to be open until Monday.