YEAR OF WET WEATHER

Evening Star, Issue 25679, 31 December 1945, Page 4

YEAR OF WET WEATHER

DRIEST SEASON IN WINTER SUNSHINE RECORDS HOT IMPRESSIVE The year 1945 should go down in. history in Dunedin as one of the wettest on record—certainly a year in which holidays have been completely marred by wet and unseasonable weather. Records kept by the City Council at Beta street (Roslyn) bear out this impression, and show that almost one more inch of rain fell this year than in 1944, which was itself regarded as a wet 12 months. Remarkable features..of tho 1945 rainfall were that the four consecutive driest months were in the winter and early spring. The summer months at the start and end of the year were uniformly wet, giving grounds for the remark often heard that the best of Dunedin’s weather occurs in the winter. When it is noted that 1945 has euded with the third highest rainfall of the year in December, there may be many who will sing with feeling tonight: • “The year is going, let him go.” The three wettest months were May, with a phenomenal total for Dunedin of 9.24 in, February, 6.11 m (a month of disastrous floods), and December 5.83 in. It must be admitted, however, that December of this year was drier than the same month of last year, but it is not recalled that the holiday period last year was as unseasonable as it has been in 1945. Details of the rainfall for each month for the last two years are as follows:

Unofficial records of the hours of sunshine during the year bear out the predominant impression of persistent dull weather. These records show a total of 1,518 hours of sunshiue for the year, carapexed'-fITEh the official return of 1,604 hours for 1944, when Dunedin was only slightly better than Invercargill, which was at the bottom of the list. Lest it might be thought that the unofficial Return this year is liable to be an under-estimate, it should be mentioned that the figures show 166 J hours of sunshine for the present month—only exceeded by last January. As the present month has been marked by persistent cloudy and wet weather, with only one completely fine day in the' last three weeks, it is surprising that such a high total should be recorded. Most Dunedin residents are probably fondly convinced that they have hardly seen the sun this month, and certainly not at all during the holidays. ,

1945. 1944. in. in. January ... ... 3.11 3.56 February ... ... 6.11 6.46 March ... 3.25 1.33 April ... 4.67 9.26 May ... ... ... 9.24 2.24 June 1 .:. 2.72 4.40 July ... 1.35 2.51 August ... 1.25 2.45 September ... 1.91 1.59 October ... 4.36 2.30 November ... 2.73 3.25 December ... 5.83 6.48 Totals ... 46.53 45.83