FEBRUARY'S WEATHER

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 54, 7 March 1929, Page 12

FEBRUARY'S WEATHER

The summary of February's weather, issued by Dr. Kidson, is as follows:— "February was a very dry month, the far southern portions of Otago and Southland being the only part of the Dominion to receive more than the average rainfall. Numbers of places in Canterbury recorded no rain at all. South of Dunedin rain fell on. a fair number of days,. but elsewhere almost the whole of the month's precipitation occurred during the.first five days, and most of it on the Ist and. 2nd.

''Meteorologically, the month was a quiet;one: y There was a. comparative absence of wind, the prevailing direction being south-westerly. . The thundery conditions of the previous montli3 were not maintained..', Thunderstorms were, howeve>, reported from a number of stations on the 3rd, and a hailstorm in the Oamaru district did much damage to the vineries:at Kakanui. ■ Temperatures and sunshine were above normal. The continued dry. weather caused pastures, to'"'become: very parched during the latter half. of ; the month, and milk yields have declined. Otherwise stock are in good condition, and the dry spell was advantageous to the extent that it, checked the rank growth of feed produced by,- the heavy rains of the earlier,months..- Reports indicate fair or good yields from crops of all sorts,, and harvesting and haymaking have been, carried out under favourable conditions. • ;. "The strongly developed monsoonal conditions over Australia which characterised January were again in evidence in February. , Pressures were low for most of the time in Northern Australia. These low pressures were counterbalanced by a stationary high pressure system over the Tasuian Sea which was responsible for the prevalence of southwesterly winds over New Zealand ifnd the dry weather which prevailed between the 6th and the 23rd. The area of low pressure extended eastward from, tropical Australia during the third week of February and a cyclone devoid oped between Fiji and the New Hebrides. The centre passed close to the Kermadec Islands on the 21st but the effect on. New Zealannd weather was slight. • The rain during the first days of the month was due to a deep depression of tho southern or westerly type which was centred in tho South Tasman Sea on the Ist. This was followed by a series of secondaries of which tho last crossed the Dominion on the sth. There were northerly gales in Cook Strait on the 2nd and southerly gales round tho southern extremity of the South Island between the sth and the 7th. From the 23rd to the end of the month another series of depressions of the westterly type affected the South Island,' but the rain was confined practically to the West Coast and far southern districts."