MAY WEATHER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 10 June 1939, Page 13

MAY WEATHER

EXTREMELY DRY MONTH TEMPERATURES ABOVE NORMAL The following report is issued by the. Dominion Meteorologist (Dr E. Ki .son):— General:—Over much the greater part of the country May was extremely drx For many places the rainfall wa. the lowest hitherto recorded and th* same applies still more generally ; to he totals for the first five months of the year. The weather was mild wil.i little wind and no very damaging fro ts. The conditions favoured continued growth of pasture. Feed is generally short, however, especially' for cattle, and though May caused a • lei- severe drain on supplies than was j fenced, the prospects for the winter j continue to cause anxiety. Supple- 1 m< itary feed crops have generally dove poorly, especially in the South Island. The ground, also, has been too hard for proper cultivation. This j has resulted in a smaller area ot ; wheat being sown than is usual. The j rains towards the end of the month re- j lieved the situation in most districts, pe: nitting ploughing to proceed.) Ap Tt from some shortage of feed the) conditions have been very favourablej for stock, which are generally in a healthy condition. Rainfall: —The rainfall totals over the , Nor th Island averaged between 60 and i 70 per cent below’ normal. Numbers | of places had a defect of over 80 per ; cent. In comparatively few places was half the average for May record- | ed. In the South Island conditions were only a little better in eastern districts. On the West Coast and in i Stewart Island, however, the normal 1 w’as in most cases exceeded. Parts of j the Nelson Province had less than j average, but the city itself had a wet j ! month. i Temperature: Temperatures were; j above normal practically everywhere, ‘ I the average departure being about 1 j 1 deg. F. Frosts were numerous and , ; rather severe in the South Island j I ow.ng to the anti-cyclonic w’eather j I prevailing with clear skies and little ! j wind. In the North Island the nights \ | were rather milder. Snow was con- i fined to a few' light falls on the I ranges, and there is much less on them i than usual at this time of the year. Sunshine: —Most places report considerably more than average sunshine, the ugh the reverse was the case at Wellington and Hokitika. Invercargill also had slightly less than usual. Many places had over 30 houi's above average. Tauranga reports 206.4 hours, Neison 190.7 and New Plymouth 187.0. j Pressure Systems: A dry type of • pressure system continued to prej dominate in May, as in the preceding i months of this year. Low pressure j troughs which lay approximately in the north to south direction and were qu-te active when passing eastern Australia, in nearly all cases lost energy before reaching New Zealand. The southern portion of the disturbance would move much fastei than the northern so that the trough, would tend more nearly into a west to east direction and become shallow. Before one anticyclone had moved off the North Island, another would be moving on to the south. Thus, the whole gamut of wind changes was experienced frequently over most of the country, it was accompanied by little I rain. At Wellington, for example, in ! one week thei-e were five separate I southerly wind changes with northerlies intervening, while only light showers were recorded. Between the sth and 7th a moderate westerly depression crossed the South Island and caused widespread rain but chiefly in western and southern districts. On th s occasion there was a heavy fall in , Nelson which was of great benefit. ' from the Bth to 13th a southwesterly type of weather prevailed with high pressure over the Tasman Sea and low to the east of New Zealand. Frequent slight disturbances brought fur--1 ther rain to western and routhern districts of the South Island, but over eastern districts and the North Island it continued dry. During this period there were gales on several days in the far south. From the 14th to 23rd though two more slight westerly de- ‘ pressidns passed in the south, high pressure and anticyclonic weather pre--1 vailed over the Dominion and particularly the Norffj Island. The one depression in the month which did have and maintain a marked extension to both north and south began to approach from the Tasman Sea on the , 24;h and had not moved completely off the country until the 28th. There . wore northerly gales about Cook ) Strait on the 25th and some strong southerlies in rear of the depression. ? It was responsible for general rain, • wTh heavy falls in most districts. In ! Nelson, Marlborough and Westland l brers reached flood levels. The temr perature remained fairly mild and | the snowfalls on the ranges due tc this storm were’only light. The rains vi ere thus of great value to the , country, relieving the water shortage j \v ’.rich existed at many places, and ! i bringing the soil into a satisfactory i condition.