WETTEST AUGUST

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 1 September 1945, Page 2

WETTEST AUGUST

9.351 N. OF RAIN IN NELSON LOWEST SUNSHINE TOTAL ON RECORD FEW FROSTS EXPERIENCED The wettest August on record was experienced in Nelson last month, the total rainfall being 9.35 inches, approximately three times more than the average. The bright sunshine total of 124 hours 23 minutes was the lowest ever recorded during August. The month started with a spell of wet weather, over 5 inches of rain falling in the first ten days. Again, towards the end of the month, there was another period of heavy rain lasting several days, with a particularly severe downfall of 2.99 inches on the 26th. The previous record for August rain-, fall in Nelson was established in 1936, when there was 8.84 inches. Last year the August rainfall totalled 5 inches. The total for the year to date is 34.5 inches, which almost equals the average rainfall for the whole year. As was to be expected with so much wet weather, the sunshine total for the month constituted a record low figure. The amount of bright sunshine recorded in August was 124 hours 23 minutes, a daily average of only four hours one minute. This was the lowest August sunshine figure recorded in Nelson since the records were first kept in 1922 Last year the August sunshine totalled 162 hours 37 minutes (a daily average of five hours 15 minutes). In contrast with August of last year, when Nelson experienced 18 frosts, there were only four recorded last month, the heaviest being 3.9 degrees