A STRONG SOUTHERLY

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 113, 8 November 1940, Page 8

A STRONG SOUTHERLY

VERY LOW PRESSURE

LOCAL GARDENS SUFFER

The promise of a southerly change, made in the official weather forecast in the last two days, was realised last night—and in good measure. Yesterday's weather was unsettled, with a strong and fitful north-westerly wind and intermittent rain;, Barometers fell lower and lower as the day progressed. Towards sunset the sky took on a distinctly threatening look, and later on there was much far-off lightning to be seen in the southern and eastern sky. Gradually the promised southerly change asserted itself, and from 11 p.m. onwards the southerly was. strong, the maximum gust at Kelburn having a velocity of 64 miles an hour. With the wind came heavy squalls of rain. The lowest barometrical reading was reached just before midnight, the figure being 981.5 millibars, or 28.98 inches, which is a very low reading for any time of the year, and particularly so at the present time. A DEEP DEPRESSION. The depression responsible for the rough weather 'has been very deep, but it is passing out of effective range and probably the wocst is over, barometers having begun to rise again. Meantime that garden vegetation* which had survived the cruel battering of the recent north-westerly gales has in many instances succumbed to the blasts from the opposite direction, and many gardeners will have a sorry mess to clear up during the weekend. There has been minor damage, too, in other directions, and a few overhead wires have been blown away, but the rain, although heavy at times, has not been sufficient to cause flooding, either in Wellington or the Hutt Valley.