ONLY THREE LOWER

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18593, 2 January 1935, Page 13

ONLY THREE LOWER

YEAR’S RAINFALL TOTAL

DECEMBER ABOVE

AVERAGE

The year 1934 has ended with of the smallest .rainfalls on record in Gisborne, The total is 28.33 in, and lower tallies are shown for only three other years in the 56 years during which records have been taken.

'The driest year was 1913, when the total was 25.40 in, and only once since then has the rainfall fallen below 30in until this year, and that was in 1931, when the total was 25.83 in, only 43 points above the record. The next lowest total was 26.09 in in 1878, the first year on which official records were taken. Only on two ther occasions, in tho past 56 years have the annual totals been lower than 30in., these being in 1921 with 28.59 in and 1886 with 28.50 in, December produced 3.40 in, the largest December total since 1928, when 6.44 in fell. Included in this month’s figures was a total of nearly 2in, the result of a local shower, so that the December figures this year are not a true indication of the rainfall for the whole district. This month was only the second this year on which the monthly average has been exceeded, the other occasion being February. Monthly records for the past three years are shown as follows, together with

Tile December rainfall, which was gauged on nine days, was as follows: December 5, 20 points; December 6, 33 points; December 7, 8 points; December 8, 3 points; December 11, 9 points; December 22, 1.97 points; December 24, 13 points; December 25, 26 points; December 26, 31 points; total, 3.40 in.

the averages: 1932 1933 1934 Av. Ins. Ins. Ins. Ins. January 1.31 4.56 2.28 2.69 February ... 12.61 4.08 4.89 3.46 March 5.48 2.85 .69 4.41 April ... ... 5.07 .33 1.01 4.05 May 2.21 11.99 2.38 5.38 June ... ... 1.09 3.59 2.03 4.90 July 4.19 3.76 4.29 5.06 August 3.04 5.15 2.61 4.32 September ... 3.66 3.48 2.13 3.00 October 1.31 2.25 1.09 2.69 November ... .51 1.29 1.67 2.89 December ... 1,70 2.01 3.40 2.30 42.18 43.33 28.38 45.15