COLD BUT SUNNY

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 107, 2 November 1933, Page 18

COLD BUT SUNNY

OCTOBER'S WEATHER

PLENTY OF WIND

October behaved as a typical spring month and produced many rapid changes in the type of weather it supplied to Wellington. Temperatures were below the average owing to the cold spells during the last third of the month, but as compensation the sun shone brightly for many more hours than usual. The rainfall was well below the average. North-westerly winds were frequent and strong during the month, and as a variation there were several cold spells. That between the 21st and 23rd was exceptionally severe for this time of year and was most injudicious in selecting the Labour Day weekend for its occurrence. There was at this time a heavy fall of snow on the lower levels of the Bimutakas,, and the Tararuas, too, received a thick coating of snow. In the city there were some severe hail storms. ' The approximate mean temperature for the month was 52.5 degrees, or one degree below the average. The mean maximum temperature was 58.5 degrees, and the mean minimum. 46.5 degrees, each approximately one degree below the average. The highest maximum temperature was 63.8 degrees, recorded on the 19th, and the lowest 37.1 on the 24th. The mean gross minimum temperature was 33.4 degrees, the lowest being 31.3 degrees on the 23rd. On this occasion there were frosts in some parts 'of the city. Sunshine was abundant throughout the month, no fewer than 232.5 hours being recorded. The average number of hours of bright sunshine in October is 177.2, so the excess above the average was as much as 55.3 hours, or nearly two hours a day. Rainfall, on the other hand, was well below the average. ■ Rain on an average falls in Wellington on 14 days during October, but during last month it fell on nine days only. The total fall, 2.17 inches, was 36 per cent, below the average. Hail fell on the 22nd and 23rd. , The amount of wind recorded during the month was. more than usual, and the average daily run as registered at Kelburn being 290 miles, as against a normal" figure of 283. The windiest 24 hours ended at 9 a.m. on the 7th, the total for that period being 537 milesi Northerly gales were experienced'on the sth, 6th, 7th,. 25th, and 30th. , That prevailing between 6 p.m. on the 6th and midday on the 7th was particularly boisterous. Barometer readings at 9 a.m. averaged 29.977 inches, .078 inch above the average. The highest reading was 30.572 inches on the 2nd, and the lowest 29.441 inches on the 21st.