THE STORM GENERAU

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 107, 7 May 1923, Page 8

THE STORM GENERAU

■TELEGRAPHIC- COMMUNICATION

INTERRUPTED.

!■{ The south-easterly gale, forecasted on Saturday morning by' Mr. D. C. Bates, Director of the 'Meteorological Office, made its appearance on Saturday night, when the wind increased to an unusual force, especially to the south of Cook Strait. In Wellington the wind attained its greatest velocity between 4 and 6 a-.nu

% On Saturday morning the Meteorological Office sent out warnings for I floods, and snow was forecasted on high Revels in-the south. The glass rose very •:high at the wireless station at Awarua ■ yesterday morning,' but the baiometer I continued low in ttie north, and the; south-east wind increased in force. The ■j weather chart on ■ Saturday morning showed the centre of low pressure to ;be west of Cape Egmont. The wind 'Svas :again very high yesterday afternoon, .but then gradually decreased, and ■'a calm ensued at 4 o'clock this morning. This, however, was only local,,for ',:«, north-easterly .fgale was raging, at 9 *$'clock' at; Cape Palliser, and-a«south-ieasterly--'- gale •at ' Port Blenheim; No 'report was available from Cape Ca-mp-'bell, Stephen Island, or any place 1 on the east coast of the South ' Island. The :"'!oss of this information, of course, is" "; detrimental to forecasting immediate future conditone.

The barometer is still unsteady in the north, although it has risen over a quarter of an inch since yesterday, and it is probable that there ie anf/ther centre of low pressure west of i-Kawhia. This would account for the 'lull in the wind at the present time. i\ The forecast is for southerly winds, Strong- .to gale, travelling northward of iNew Plymouth and Napier; soutn-east-"erly elsewhere. ■• -.- v "Two inches of rain were- measured :this morning at the Thomdon Observartory, and .64ia.yesterday morning for •the preceding, 24 hours. .. : i This disturbance, states the Director ■of the Meteorological Office, has probably nothing whatever to do with the '.cyclone which was off. the Queensland' .■Coast during the preceding week-end,. rwhich caused rain .in parts of Queens; .land, in which no rain had fallen [since 1919. That cyclone, paßsing southward, accounted'for the bountiful rain an New South Wales.. That disturbance :jskirmished round the edge of the high pressure system which held sway over '■New Zealand until the middle of the ■v/epk. -.It decreased: and'passed away in tte southern areas towards the Antarctic on Thursday.

. v The"present".disturbance in' New Zealand is quite a new system, which intensified greatly on Saturday. There 'was at that time very -little to show such a storm was coming here, and ■it .was only long experience which en"abled such an accurate forecast to be ;sent out by the Meteorological Office.' >'■' The barometer 6t Auckland yesterday ■Teached 29.38 inches, and this morning ,the reading. was '29.65 inches, which •shows that the pressure' has increased in the North. . ...

.'"'■ The rainfall in.Wellington during the ilasfc forty-eight hours,:- .although two inches, is not really exceptional. During similar periods at other.- times, the rainfall has been over three times the ■Quantity which was recorded, yesxer2ay. .. •

;? Torrential rain fell in Blenheim, Christchnrch, and other districts in the South yesterday. Floods are reported in Blenheim, and a number of rivers in the South are stated to be in high flood.