WAYWARD JANUARY

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 31, 6 February 1936, Page 4

WAYWARD JANUARY

VEJIY AVET MONTR*'

IN NORTH ISLAND

"In the North Island January was a very wet month," says Dr. E. Kidson, Director of Meteorological Services, in his review of the weather during January. "Most places in the Auckland and Hawke's Bay Provinces, indeed, had two to three times the average rainfall. In consequence, there has "been unusual growth of grass, pastures are very green, and feed abundant. Stock generally are in very good condition, and the milk yield is high. The weather was, however, too wet for satisfactory haymaking, and much cut hay was lost. The pasture is too green, also, for lambs to fatten very well. Fruit crops,' especially stone fruit and tomatoes, suffered considerably from the excessive moisture. "In the South Island conditions were very different, rainfall being much below normal in most districts. On the other, hand, there was very little westerly wind and consequently an absence of dry and sunny weather. Feed generally is plentiful, though in some parts fresh green pasture is lacking. Again, though stock are mostly in good condition, lambs are not fattening as well as usual. Wheat crops promise to be heavy. "In the coyntry ( as a whole the season is a backward one, fruit and crops maturing as much as three weeks later than usual. , "The great excess of rainfall in the North Island has already been mentioned. In the .South Island there was an average deficit of about 50 per cent. In Nelson and Marlborough the falls approached the average, and Oamaru and Invercargill, also, had good rains. North Canterbury and the west coast had a particularly dry month. TEMPERATURES HIGH. "'Though the departures were nowhere very large, temperatures were generally above normal, especially in the interior and on the west coast. "Sunshine was considerably above normal in the interior of the South Island at Lake Tekapo and Alexandra, and on the west coast at New Plymouth and Hokitika, but in most other places was below it. Hawke's Bay and Canterbury had unusually low values. "For the first five days of the month an anticyclone covered New Zealand, and the weather was fine. Between the 6th and the Bth, though pressure remained high to the east, a series of shallow depressions moved on to the Dominion. North-easterly gales and heavy rain occurred in the north, North Auckland experiencing some flooding. Good rains were recorded over most of the North Island, but in the South they were lighter. "Between the 11th and 17th, a somewhat similar series of depressions made their appearance. General rains were again recorded. A north-easterly gale was experienced in the Auckland Province on the night of the 14th to 15th, and floods occurred in North Auckland and the Bay of Plenty. On the 17th there were northerly or north-westerly gales at many places. "The third series of depressions, which were again only shallow arrived on the 22nd to 23rd. Once more there was flooding in North Auckland, though elsewhere the rain was generally light. Finally, on the 29th to 30 th northerly gales occurred about and south of Cook Strait in connection with a westerly disturbance, though there was little rain. "Thunderstorms were fairly frequent during the month."