WEATHER IN JULY

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 28, 1 August 1930, Page 9

WEATHER IN JULY

COLDEST MONTH ON RECORD IVo one Avill want to dispute the fact that the outstanding feature of Wellington's weather in July were the extreme cold and the persistence of southerly winds. The mean temperature for the month was only 44.2 der grees, which makes July, 1930, the coldest month that Wellington has ever experienced since the white man came along with his meteorological instruments. The nearest approach to such a low mean temperature was in July, ] 895. * The mean for that month was 44.7-degrees. Observations aro now taken at Kelburn, and in 1895 the official observing station was on the flat at Thorndon; but even allowing for Kelburn's higher altitude, July this year, thinks Dr. Kidson, probably Holds ■the record. The lowest temperature in the screen recorded during the month was 32.4 degrees on the 23rd, whereas the lowest in July, 1895, was 32.0 degrees. The lowest minimum reading on the grass, also on the 23rd, was 22 degrees, which is equivalent to 10 degrees of frost. The lowest grass minimum ever recorded in Wellington was 17.7 degrees in July, 1918. ' The mean minimum temperature for the month was 38.9 degrees, which is lower -than that of any month previously recorded, ■ except July, ISDS, when the mean minimum temperature was 38.15 degrees. The highest temperature was 57.1 degrees on the- 3rd, the mean maximum being 49.4 degrees. The next lowest mean maximum of any month is 50.2 degrees in July, 1908. Barometric pressure was slightly above normal during the month, and the average amount of cloud at 9 a.m. was also above normal, seven-tenths compared with 5.6 tenths. There was only one spell of any length of northerly winds, and that was between the 17th and 20th. The run of wind ' between 9 a.m. on the 19th and 9 a.m. on the 20th was as much as 463 miles. Light northerly winds of short duration were experienced on several days throughout the month, but for the greater part of the month southerly winds were experienced. These reached gale force on several days and wero particularly severe towards the end of the month, and especially during the recent stormy weather, the memory of which is still very fresh in most people's minds and bones. The highest daily run of wind during this storm was 476 miles. Gusts of wind at Kelburn reached over 60 miles an hour, but at Rongotai, where the daily run of wind is also higher, a gust of 74 miles an hour was recorded. The local rainfall was below July's usual average. At Kelburn 3.71 inches were recorded, with rain falling on 23 days, and at Karori 4.16 inches. The latter figure is 22 per cent below the average. Most of the rain during the month fell at night. Hours of sunshine totalled 10S.8, the average for July boing 107.1 hours. There were twelve frosts during the month. Snow fell on the Orongorongds on the 2nd and again on the 22nd, remaining in patches untill the end of tho month. A few flakes of snow feil in tho city itself on the 25th. Hail showers were numerous and fell on six days. Some of the stones were big, reaching a diameter of three-quarters of an inch at Petone. The heaviest hail shower was on the 27th, the ground in sqme suburbs being covered to tho depth of an inch or more. Thunderstorms occurred on the 20th and 24th, and fog on five days.