Worst summer frosts in Canty for 35 years

Press, 5 March 1988, Page 5

Worst summer frosts in Canty for 35 years

Canterbury’s summer was marked by gale-force southerlies, blustery north-westerlies, and the ; hardest frosts reported for the! period for 35 years. During December and January' the province en-! joyed mainly warm and sunny weather, although the high temperatures were interrupted by a number| of south-westerly changes! The I weather cooled during February, pushing temperatures and sunshine ; hours well below the average. A frost of 2.4 deg. was recorded in December, the hardest frost recorded during December for 12 years and a I.9deg. frost in February was the hardest recorded in that month since 1953.

! Although temperatures in December were slightly above | average, southwesterly changes during

the first half of the mdnth brought some very cool temperatures. In January temperatures exceeded 30deg. on five days, and until January 14 the minimum temperature did not fall ! below 22deg. i The pattern was broken by a depression on January 19 which i brought gale-force southerlies, with .wind gusts; reaching 61 knots. j A slow-moving depression brought dull conditions to Canterbury in February and outbreaks of drizzle and rain put temperatures below the average for the first half of the month.

Warm north-waters lifted temperatures during the second half of February although a number of brief southerly changes, some bringing hail, I also occurred during the latter part of the month. I