WEATHER IN 1936

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 2, 4 January 1937, Page 8

WEATHER IN 1936

I YEAR OF DOWNPOURS i | METEOROLOGICAL FIGURES | ABSENCE OF SUMMER i | Most people have comparatively i short memories as far as the weather | is concerned, but everybody \Vill have lively recollections that the year 1936 finished very badly, with a surfeit of rain that spoilt to a very large extent both the Christmas and the New Year holidays. Last year Wellington was treated pretty badly, for there was practically no summer weather at either end. In fact February, the last of the three so-called summer months, opened with a memorable gale and was easily the wettest February on reI cord. As if that was not bad enough, it was followed by about the coldest March on record. Thereafter the year did r.ot depart very much from normal, except that there was an excessive J amount of rain, notably in July, and then again in both November and December. Taken all through, 1936 in Wellington has been a very wet year. Although not the wettest on record, it has nevertheless produced many inches more rain than the average. The average yearly rainfall for Wellington is 42.30 inches, fairly well distributed throughout the year and with most falling between May and August. But 1936 produced 56.80 inches, or 14.5 inches more than the average. The first three months of the year had rainfalls above the average, very much so in the case of February. During April, May, and June there was rather less rain than usual, but in July the rainfall was getting on for twice the average, and August was a wet month too. September was comparatively dry, and in October the rainfall was a trifle below the average. November was excessively wet, and December followed suit. The following table gives the rainfall in inches for each month of the year, together with the average of previous years and the number of days upon which rain fell:—

On an average Wellington has 167 ■ days in the year upon which rain falls. It will be seen from the above table i that in the year just passed this number was not greatly exceeded. It was not so much the case of too many days with rain, but rather of excessive downpours. It will also be noticed that three months of the year had exactly the same quantity of rain, 3.33 inches falling in April, June, and October. The wettest year on record for Wei-1 lington was 1892, when the rainfall j totalled 67.68 inches. The past year was the wettest since 1904, when just over 60 inches of rain fell. Welling- j ton's driest year was 1915, when the rainfall was only 27.83 inches. TEMPERATURES BELOW NORMAL. Adding to its other sins, 1936, in addition to being abnormally wet, was r comparatively cold year too. The approximate mean temperature for the year for Wellington is 54.5 degrees, but the thermometer in 1936 only achieved an approximate mean of 54 degrees. The temperature for the first two months did .iot depart excessively from the mean, but March was very cold. April was slightly warmer than usual, and was warmer even than March, but the next three months were colder than usual. August was a comparatively warm month, but September was colder than usual. The temperatures in both October and November were slightly above the average, while December produced an approximate mean temperature of two degrees below normal. The following table gives the mean temperature for each month, together with the average of previous years:—

Jlean for year . 54 54.5 SUNSHINE ALSO FAILS. Wellington is usually fairly fortunate in the amount of sunshine it enjoys throughout the year. Its yearly average of 2044.3 hours places it high in the Dominion list, but not quite as high as in Hawke's Bay and Nelson. It rather fell from grace in 1936, however, for the total number of hours of bright sunshine did not quite reach the 2000 mark, being 1984.7 to be exact. This is 59.6 hours less than the average. There was only one really sunny month when the sunshine was well above the average, and that was September. In eight months out of the twelve the amount of sunshine was below the average. Taking the daily average throughout the year, there were 5.4 hours of bright sunshine each day, compared with the average of previous years of 5.6. The following table gives the monthly totals of hours of bright sunshine together with the averages from previous years:—

It will be noticed that February failed miserably in its sunshine, which is hardly to be wondered at seeing what a wet month it was. September did its best to make amends. LESS WIND THAN USUAL. The only consolation to be found in | a survey of the weather of 1936 appears to lie in the fact that through(out the year there was rather less wind than usual, which is something I to be thankful for. There were some I pretty formidable blasts at times, but I several months <»f the year had a 1 daily run of wind which averaged considerably less than the normal figure, whilst several others were near to it or only slightly above it. August was the windiest month, and, as usual, towards the end of the year there was often more draught than was pleasant. June was particularly windless. The daily run of wind in miles per

hour for each month of the year is given in the following table, together with averages of previous years:—

October 9 was the year's windiest day, with a run of 668 miles. A northwesterly gale on November 25 produced the year's strongest gust, one blowing with a velocity of 76 milea an hour.

Days with Inches. Average, rain. ; January 8.31 2.89 8 February 9.90 2.7."> 14 March 4.G4 3.20 13 April 3.33 3.151 12 May 2.87 4.10 13 •Itino 3.33 4.31 13 July S.42 4.S5 21' August 4.68 3.93 20 September 2.14 3.20 16 October 3.33 3.HI 14 November 6.09 2.99 16 December 4.43 2.93 13 Total 56.SO 42.30 173

Mean temperature. Average. January (51.8 61.7 February 61.2 61.7 March 50 59.7 April 57.6 56.2 May 49.6, 51.9 June 47.8 48.6 July 45.6 40.9 August 49.8 4i.7 September ........ 50.1 50«£ October • »...* 54.6 53.o November 56.1 Jo.9 December ........ 57.4 »9.4

Hours. Average. January ... s 233.0 228.4 ' February 307.9 March 194.6 April 14 j." L>4..» May 120.8 130.4 June 113.2 10C.fi July 104.8 107.5 August 132.8 139.8 September ........ 192.8 102.8 October lf>9.8 179.8 November 186.1 208 December 222. li 228.1 j Totals 1984.7 2011.3 I

Dally run. Arerage. January ISO 259 February 209 220 March 214 210 April 181 217 May 183 ' 214 June 355 MM July 200 1S4 August 282 215 September 25fi 234 October .. 2f>9 November 2tf5 5ti2 December 220 238 Totals 218 22f