WINTRY SQUALLS

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 267, 6 August 1932, Page 12

WINTRY SQUALLS

Snow in Wairarapa FARM LANDS COVERED Dangers on the Highways Dominion Special Service. Masterton, August 5. A further and still more heavy fall of snow was experienced in the Wairarapa to-day. All parts of the district were affected. The temperature as recorded at Masterton and Carterton was as low as 32.5 degrees. The snow began falling late last night and at seven o’clock this morning the fall became very thick. It continued steadily up to midday, when the snow turned to a sleety rain that came in bitter squalls from the south. The snowfall at Carterton was the heaviest since July 1918, when six inches fell.. At Masterton it was the heaviest for some winters, but a high wind prevented It lying on the streets for any length of time. Farm lands in the valley, however, were covered to the depth of an inch or two, while all high country was thickly blanketted. Motorists on the main Wellington highwav found driving dangerous during the height of the storm, owing to poor visibility and the fact that the ■ snow caked on windscreens so thickly ras to make the use of the windscreen wiper impossible. . The weather experienced during the past two days is easily the most severe this season and as lambing has already commenced, and will shortly become general, sheep-farmers are anxiously looking for an improvement. Businessmen are also affected as the streets of Masterton, Carterton, Greytown and Featherston were almost deserted to-day. ' FALLS NEAR WANGANUI Livestock Not Affected Dominion Special Service. Wanganui, August 5. Intensely cold and dry weather for the past few weeks culminated last night in heavy falls of snow in the Wanganui and Taranaki districts. At Pipiriki snow fell in the valley and township for the first time in seven years, and at Morikau and lower down the river the fair was seven inches deep. • , . Reports from Taranaki state that the snow was several inches across the Main North Road. At Brunswick, near Wanganui, the snow was so thick in places that farmers were un-. able to drive their cars across paddocks to the road. At Raetihi and National Park heavy snow has been falling for two days. For some weeks the temperature has been unusually low for the Wanganui district, and although exceptionally little rain has fallen this winter, the weather has been really wintry. Early this morning snow fell on the hills near Wanganui, and in the morning sun the range's up-river and above Aramoho’ and Okoia looked like snowclad mountains. . . , Mr. White, postmaster at Pipiriki, stated this morning that snow began to fall last night and before dark had covered the high hills in the neighbourhood. . When the weather, cleared at 8.30 this morning it was found th nt. snow had covered the ground .in the valley bottom and in the villages several inches deep. It was the heaviest fall for seven years, and the landscape presented a beautiful picture in the early morning sun’s rays. Further up the river between Pipiriki, the fall was even heavier, and the whole country was covered in a white mantle as far as the eye could see. From high vantage points the country from Mount Egmont to Mount Ruapehu seemed to be snowed under. Travellers from north." state- that heavy sno.w fell at Stratford and other parts of Taranaki, covering the main road to the depth of several inches. At Brunswick and Rangitatau, near Wanganui, the snow covered paddocks so thickly that farmers were unable to drive their cars across paddocks to the road until late into the day. Although most of the Wanganui district away from the sea was heavily snowed under, Marton, which is only 20 miles away, was not aware that snow had fallen anywhere near. Farmers state that the snow was not heavy enough to seriously affect ’stock, and that lambs were standing up under the cold conditions. Had the snow been preceded by heavy and cold rain the consequences might have been more serious. ’