THUNDERSTORMS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 15, 19 January 1937, Page 11

THUNDERSTORMS

INFREQUENT IN N.Z,

(By» Telegraph—Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, January 18.

"Thunderstorms are of low frequency in New Zealand and in general are not severe, consequently damage to life and property is almost negligible. The extension of power systems and the use of wireless has, however, made their effects quite an important factor," said Mr. A. O. Glasse, engineer to the Auckland Electric Power Board, addressing the engineering and architectural section of the conference of the Australian

i. -d New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science, on the characteristics and effects of lightning discharges.

Fifty thunderstorms in which damage was done to transmission lines had been recorded in the Auckland district in the past five years, while meteorological records revealed an average of 74.7 a year. The nature of the ground over which transmission lines were carried had an important bearing on their vulnerability to lightning. The ground might become ionised by radiations from radio-active substances in the ground (uranium, thorium, and potassium) or in the air (radon and thoron) or by penetrating cosmic rays. It had been shown that the frequency Of lightning strokes was highest over areas with the greatest ionisation and therefore a geological survey of a region would be desirable prior to the erection of power lines.