ONLY ONCE EXCEEDED

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19698, 2 August 1938, Page 7

ONLY ONCE EXCEEDED

JULY RAINFALL TOTAL RECORDS FOR GO YEARS 12.G41X, 22 WET DAYS For the 22 days on which rain fell in Gisborne hist month the Gisborne aerodrome meteorological station recorded 12.G4in., as against the harbour signal station's 12.30 m At he signal station rain was actually iccorded on 24 clays, but for each of the two extra days there was just sufficient to register. Tho aerodrome's 12.64 in. is the highest total for any month of the year since 1924, and is virtually the second highest, on record for July. The year 1910 holds the record for July ramfall with 14.15 in., while July, 1900, barely surpassed last months total with 12.05 in. The records extend as far back as 1878 and a glance at these figures reveals that Gisborne has a number of times c-ltnenced much heavier rain than th it of last month over a similar period. For instance, there was 20.1 Gin. of rain gauged in March, 1910, and 18.151 n. in May, 1910. Although the past month's total by far exceeds the figure for any other month so fai this year, there were no exceptionally large oaily readings. In contrast to the fall of G.OOrn. recorded at the aerodrome on February 18 the date of the Kopuawhara disaster, the highest daily reading for last month at the same station was l'.SGin. on July 23. It is a common occurrence for July to produce a large number of wet days -and, in fact, it holds the record for any month of the year, 2G wet days being experienced in July, 1890. Daily Readings In the "following table of individual daily readings for the two Gisborne weather stations it will be noted that July 2 and 11 were the only occasions on which the figures for the stations were identical: —

With seven months of the year gone, Gisborne's rainfall so far this year already has exceeded the total for 1937. as well as the annual average estimated over a period of GO yeass. The following figures set out the comparison:—Total for seven months. 1938: 44.87 in. Total for 12 months, 1937: 38.93 in. Total for 12 months, 1936: 44.85 in. Average rainfall for 12-monthly periods since 1878: 44.77 in. The table below gives a comparison of the rainfall experienced in Gisborne during the first seven months oi 193 G, 1937 and 1938, together with the averages, taken over a period of GO years, for those months: —

Totals .. 32.30 23.08 44.87 29.70

Signal Aerostation drome in. in. July 2 ... .00 .00 July 4 ... ... .02 .03 July 6 .37 .22 Julv 7 ... .01 — July 10 ... ... .83 1.02 July 11 ... ... 1.50 1.50 Julv 12 ... ... .29 .02 July 13 ... ... .78 .04 July 14 ... ... .K) .02 July 15 ... ... .05 .03 July 11) ... ... .01 .02 July 19 ... ... .02 .11 July 20 .. 1.88 1.74 July 21 ... ... 1.08 .95 July 22 ... ... .01 — July 23 ... . .. 1.00 1.86 July 24 ... ... .32 .48 July 25 ... .28 .23 July 26 ... ... .80 .74 July 27 .... ... .23 .31 July 28 .... . .. .07 .09 July 29 ... .55 .37 July 30 .... .. .92 .84 July 31 ... .40 .70 Totals .. . . 12.30 12.04 Annual Average Exceeded

1936 1937 1938 Avg in. in. in. in. January . . 4.36 5.15 2.69 2.76 February 1U.86 .73 9.96 3.59 March . 5.43 2.97 2; 13 4.31 April . 2.86 3.32 8.15 3.91 May .. . . 2.81 1.70 7.01 5.30 June .. . 2.15 5.55 2.29 4.83 Julv .. . . 3.83 3.66 12.64 5.00