PASTURES BENEFIT BY RAIN

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 113, 6 February 1941, Page 9

PASTURES BENEFIT BY RAIN

Weather For January

DAIRY PRODUCTION IMPROVES

Pastures have been refreshed and the decline in dairy production has been arrested by warm and beneficial rain which fell in most districts during the latter part of January, combating the effect of the drought that began at Christmas, says the director, of meteorological services for New Zealand, Dr. M. A. F, Barnett, in his notes on the weather. Cereal crops in some cases have suffered from premature ripening but, on the whole, yields are good, with harvesting in the South Island proceeding under ideal conditions.

The earlier part of the month was sunny and warm, the latter part unsettled and dull, specially over the North Island.

Rainfall was in excess over most of the North Island as well as in Nelson province and in a small area back from Balelutha. Totals amounted to more than double the average round the Bay of Plenty, in northern Taranaki, and in the Nelson-Collingwood district. There was, however, a narrow strip of country between Palmerston North and Taumarunui, where totals were on the light side. The centre of the South Island received rather less than the normal rainfall, but the deficits were most marked in North Canterbury. Numerous thunderstorms were reported over the southern half of the North Island on the 25th and 26th. As in December, mean temperatures were above normal generally, the departure being greater to the east than elsewhere. At first, days were very warm and sunny, but there was a cool spell from the 11th to the 16th with a few inland frosts and some light snow on the far southern ranges. Toward the end of the month conditions were mild again and, in the North Island specially, very humid. In eastern districts, from Hawke’s Bay southward, sunshine was slightly above average, but it was below on the west coast. Many stations in the Auckland province had very poor totals.