HOTTEST OCTOBER DAY FOR FIFTY YEARS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26915, 29 October 1948, Page 4

HOTTEST OCTOBER DAY FOR FIFTY YEARS

A warm north-west wind and bright sunshine made yesterday in Dunedin the hottest day in October experienced for almost 50 years. In respect for convention, men wore their suits and hats as usual, and suffered in perspiring discomfort. Women were wiser, and their display of spring and summer clothing not only enhanced their individual appearance but lent a pleasant air of freshness to the otherwise oppressive atmosphere in the city. After the recent cold wet weather, the sudden change was particularly noticeable yesterday. The temperature rose sharply, the maximum reading being 81.5 degrees at the meteorological stations at Musselburgh and the Taieri —the highest recording in Dunedin for any day in October for almost 50 years. It was a typical summer «day. Women and children, who were also appropriately attired, seemed to enjoy it and* also the ice-creams. Perspiring men with hats in hand made a contrasting sight, although later in the day they made increased demands for popular beverages. Encouraged by the warmth, lawns and grass plots, which had remained uncut during the earlier wet weather, continued to grow. ' Towards evening, light rain began to fall in the city, cooling the atmosphere and the sticky bitumen. An unusually large number of false automatic and accidental fire alarms were reported by the Central Fire Brigade. As these occurred during the middle §>f the heat wave, an officer of the service told the Daily Times last night and there was a possibility of the alarms being set off by the sudden heat. A grass fire on the railway embankment at Hillside was extinguished by the South Dunedin brigade at 1 o’clock yesterday and a gorse fire on the main road at Burnside was put out at 5.14 p.m. Central Otago also sweltered yesterday, the maximum temperature being 83.8 degrees in Alexandra and 82.5 degrees at the Research Orchard, Earnscleugh.