THE WEATHER

Southland Times, Issue 21647, 8 March 1932, Page 7

THE WEATHER

MONTH OF FEBRUARY. METEOROLOGIST’S REPORT. (Per United Press Association.) Wellington, March 7. The weather for February was remarkable for the complete break in the drought which prevailed in many districts during the preceding months. At the end of the first week, owing to the prolonged period of deficient rainfall, the situation was critical in parts of Hawkes Bay, Poverty Bay, Canterbury and only less serious in the Wairarapa, Manawatu and Marlborough districts, but the Dominion once more showed the excellence and reliability of her climate when, during the following fortnight, two spells of heavy rain occurred. In the first, the area principally affected was in the eastern portion of the North Island from Cook Strait to East Cape where there had been a drought in that area. It was' fully relieved, the falls being particularly heavy from Hawkes Bay northwards. The second rainy spell was between the 17th and 22nd. On this occasion the whole country benefited, the heavy falls being practically universal. The drought was now broken in Canterbury, Marlborough and Manawatu and the whole aspect of the season changed. The amount of rain for the Dominion as a whole was very heavy' and must have approximated 50 per cent above the average in eastern districts between Oamaru and Timaru from Wellington to the East Cape and about Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula. Many stations record more than double the average for February and some three or four times that amount. Nevertheless parts of the Auckland Peninsula, most of Taranaki, parts of Southland and of the interior of Otago had less than normal. In most places the temperatures were below normal for February, but in the interior departures were seldom marked and some inland parts of the North Island were farmer than usual. The amount of bright sunshine was much below the average, indeed in many places it was the cloudiest February on record.