RECORD LOW PRESSURES

Evening Star, Issue 23166, 16 January 1939, Page 10

RECORD LOW PRESSURES

BAROMETER AT 28.35 INCHES CYCLONIC DISTURBANCE THE REASON .cy clonic -disturbance was centred on New Zealand terday/ with is influence felt particularly in the South Island. Barometric pressures ’ reached phenomenally low levels. A steady fall was noticeable in Dunedin from Saturday morning, reaching its peak at noon yesterday with a reading of 28.40 in. At midnight there was no rising tendency. . _ From \Vellington to Bluff Pressure fell yesterday to well below 28.00 in. Believed to be a record for Southland, 28.319 in was the registration at the Awarua radio station at 6.30 last evening. Garston, which is I,oooft above U a level, recorded 27.77 in—the lowest vet. No allowance was made for altitude, however, on this instrument, which was set for sea level. A record for the Taiaroa Heads station was the pressure of 28.35 m recorded at midday yesterday. At Wellington the glass fell to 28.65 m at 3.30 pm. On March 6, 1871, 28.59 m was recorded, this being the least ever shown. Again there was a record at Christchurch, where the reading was 28.387 i lowest since the observatory was installed in 1892. No indications of a storm coming were given in Dunedin until yesterday afternoon, when, after a change from a north-easterly to a southerly wind, a heavy thunderstorm with ram and hail showers made, an appearance. Then came a rapid improvement—the sky cleared, and it was fine at midnight. Wellington suffered a gale, at times reaching 60 m.p.h., but until the late afternoon Christchurch had experienced fine conditions. .■. The lowest reading ever recorded in the Dominion was 28.31 in at Bluff on July 6, 1936,. when low levels were reached all over New Zealand. In Dunedin on that occasion the glass fell t0.28.50in, and at Christchurch to 28 45in. Not since that date has pressure fallen to the low level reached ■■yesterday.,: , . SIMILAR FALLS THROUGHOUT SOUTH ISLAND [Per United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, January 15, The extraordinarily changeable and unpleasant weather during most of the week-end in which included a gale with gusts' reaching 60 miles an hour, coincided with the unusual conditions’ in other parts of New Zealand. A record low barometer reading was reported to the meteorological office from Taiaroa Heads, Otago, at midday today. The pressure, 28.35 in, was a record for that station, but was not a record for the Dominion, a reading of 28.31 in having been taken at Bluff or July 6, 1936. ~‘ln Wellington the glass fell to 28.65 m it 3;30 p.m., but the record of March 6, 1871; 28.59 deg, still stands. CHRISTCHURCH, January 15. The barometer in Christchurch to-day reached the lowest level ever recorded since 1892, when the observatory was installed. The maximum temperature for the morning was 76.3 deg at IQ.IO, when, with a change of wind, a rapid decline of temperature followed the -rapid rise of the early morning. The minimum barometer reading since the installation of the observatory occurred at 10.15 a.m., the reading falling to. 28.38 7 in. The previous minimum occurred on July 6, 1936, when 28.45 in was recorded. On the present occasion the rapid change of the surface wind .from strong north-east to strong northwest, which occurred about. 10.15 a.m.. was followed by a marked decrease of the electric potential gradient. The moisture content of the air was only three-fifths’ of the moisture content at 9, a.m., and the degree of humidity decreased from 67 per cent, at 9 a.m. to only 35 per cent, at noon. So far the day in Christchurch has Been brilliantly fine with bright sunshine, and the barometer at 6.30 p.m. was steady at 28.430 in. INVERCARGILL, January 15. 'After falling steadily for several days the barometer 1 at the Awarua radio station registered 28.319 in at 6.30 this evening. This is believed to be a record for .Southland, At Garston, which is I,oooft above sea level, the barometer registered 27.77 in, the lowest ever re-, corded, but that barometer.was set at sea level, no allowance being made for altitude.