STORM COMING

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 12, 14 July 1923, Page 7

STORM COMING

UGLY WEATHER CONDITIONS.

A cyclone is raging in the north, and telegraphic communication was interrupt ted for a considerable time this morning; but messages coming through at midday show that heavy easterly gales and rain are being experienced" northward of East Cape and. Kawhia. The lowest reading of .the barometer 29.24, is at' Cape Maria van Diemen j and overcast skies are reported generally, with showers along the eastern coasts of both islands. Two storms are in evidence. There is a westerly disturbance coming on, and this has _ somewhat neutralised the force of the wind, particularly about Cook Strait. Seven inches of snow was reported at the Mount Cook Hermitage this morning. At Pembroke there was snow, but a thaw set in' during the forenoon. At Arthur's Pass, however, the' temperature at 9 o'clock was 22 degrees —10 degrees below freezing point—and the sky was blue. Although the exist-' ence of these two disturbances somewhat complicates matters for forecasting, the conditions are threatening; and, according to the Director of the Meteorological Office, stormy weather may be expected with heavy rain, with rivers flooded in the North Island and north-east districts of the South Island; rain generally elsewhere, and further snow on the higher levels. The barometer has a further falling tendency, and south-easterly winds, strong to gale, are likely to prevail northward of Kawhia and Castlepoint, and easterlies to rule and increase elsewhere. Snowfall is.very varied; in the South Island some winters being quite open. The most severe snowfall of which the Meteorological Office, has any record was in 1895, when as much as 70 per cent, of the sheep were lost in the high country, and in 1903, when a very severe frost followed such a temporary fall as is now being experienced in Southland. From two to three inches of rain is.reported north of Auckland, but the rainfall is likely to be much heavier in Hawkes Bay than it is at present, and warnings for heavy rain were sent all round yesterday morning: