WARMEST APRIL ON RECORD.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 12 May 1938, Page 6

WARMEST APRIL ON RECORD.

MUCH RAIN TELL General. —April was an extremely dull, wet and warm month with very little wind. Much flooding was experienced, and that of the 24th to 25th in Hawke's Bay was a major disaster for that province. There were grave losses of stock and damage to roads, bridges, and property. One of the most serious features was the covering of rich pasture lands by deep deposits of silt. There has been prolific growth of pasture bvit it is very soft. Though stock generally are in good condition, the reverse is the case in much of the South Island. The conditions have been responsible for serious outbreaks of facial eczema in sheep and cattle, especially in the Waikato and east coast districts of .the North Island. Lambs not fattened well. The completion of harvesting has been delayed and farm work seriously interfered with, especially in Canterbury. Plants are late in showing autumn tints and in numerous cases have flowered twice. Rainfall. —The rainfall was exceptionally heavy and it was one of the wettest Aprils experienced in the Do minion. In Southland there was still a deficit, which was considerable in the far South. This shortage extended to parts of southern Otago, but over the rest of the country the average was exceeded. The departures were comparatively moderate in western districts of the South Island, most of Taranaki and North Auckland, but elsewhere more than double the normal was generally recorded. Napier had six times the average and Tiinaru nearly four times. Temperatures. —As regards temperature, April was even more outstanding than March. There has been no previous April since records began to compare with for warmth. Indeed, the only other month in which the average departure from normal over the Dominion has been so high was December, 1934. Though rather less at Napier and Wellington, the departures over the North Island and western districts of tothe South were generally from six degrees to eight degrees F. In the eastern districts of the South Island they averaged about three degrees F. The beginning of the month was very warm, many places in the central provinces having not only the record temperature for April on the 2nd or 3rd, but also their highest for this year. There were very few frosts. - Sunshine. —Except in the extreme north.and south the amount of bright sunshine was very much below average. Numbers of places recorded only about , half the normal.

Pressure Systems. —The outstanding i feature .of the month was the high • latitude in which the centres of the ; anticyclones moved and the persistence , of high pressure at Chatham Island. The great majority of the country was thus generally on the tropical side of the high pressure belt. There was not a single case of a well-developed westerly depression, while several cyclones moved down from the north and unusually well-developed low pressure centres formed off the west coast. The atmosphere was so warm and humid that whenever conditions favoured rain it was liable to be very heavy. As in earlier months this year there were a ' numb'er of, extremely heavy rains covering:.* restricted area. There were few days on which some part of the country did not record heavy rain. In the beginning of themonth there was an almost stationary cyclone located over the north Tasman Sea.' It finally moved eastwards and passed north of New Zealand on the 4th to' sth. This storm, comßined with a shallow* depression from the west, caused very heavy rain in the Auckland Province and parts of Taranaki and the Manawatu. In the two areas last mentioned it resulted in the breaking of a long spell of dry weather. "On the 13th one of the low pressure centres formed to the west of Nelson. It was rather deep and crossed the South ] Island during the next day. This storm, I occurring just before Easter, caused general vain with many heavy falls and considerable flooding especially in the South Island, where road traffic was disorganised on Good Friday. The weather remained unsettled throughout ia large part of Easter at many places. There was some snow in the back country of Canterbury on the 13th. On the 14th there was an extraordinary heavy downpour accompanying a thunderstorm Admiralty Bay, Pelorous Sound. This resulted in the destruction of several buildings and some grass paddocks. On the 17th severe thunder storms and very heavy rain occurred in the Waikato and Ttotorua areas. The next depression on the west coast aj> peared on the 20th to 21st. There was again almost general rain with many very heavy falls from Taranaki and Wellington southward to Canterbury • and Westland. An exceptionally heavy local fall was responsible for flooding and severe damage at Pohangina. This depression appeared to have passed completely away when another developed to the north, on the front associated with it, on the 23rd. The second depression, moving almost due south and and deepening as it went, passed along the east coast of the North Island and was responsible for the phenomenal | rains and floods of the Anzac Day weekicnd in Hawke's Bay. The total rain produced by the storm amounted in places to over 40 inches. In the Wairarapa, also, there were extremely heavy falls. Easterly to south-easterly gales blew on the east coast of the North Island from the 24th to the 2Gtii. The last depression moved rapidly down the west coast of the Dominion on the \ 28th to 29th. Heavy rains were again j widespread. This storm brought some '

relief to the portions of Southland which have been suffering from drought.