MILD AND CALM IN MARCH

Southland Times, Issue 23782, 1 April 1939, Page 3

MILD AND CALM IN MARCH

Rainfall Well Below Average ONLY FIVE DAYS WITH NO SUNSHINE The month of March in Invercargill will be remembered for the mildness of the weather generally, the small rainfall and the big number of calm days. Following on the stormy weather of February the settled weather was in marked contrast. It is many years since the conditions were so mild, and the records would have to be searched a long way back to find March showing a rainfall as low at 1.7 inches. The average rainfall for March for the four-yearly period 1936-39 is 4.2 inches and the long-period average is 3.85. It will be seen therefore that the rainfall last month was a long way below the average. Rain fell on 20 days but on no occasion was the fall excessive. A little more than half an inch on March 11 was the biggest fall. For the three months ended March 31, 1939, the total rainfall was 13.44 inches, giving an average of 4.48 inches a month. This represents a big reduction in the average created by the high rainfalls of the recognized summer months, November, December and January. It was only to be expected that with a low rainfall that there would be a good amount of sunshine. Long “burns” were not frequent but the sun shone steadily and a total of 135.9 hours was registered. There were five days without sunshine. On nine days there was no wind and on only two occasions was there anything approaching the storm conditions which marked the months of December, January and February. On the whole the month was very settled and gave backward crops and general vegetation a chance to recover from the buffeting received by earlier storms. There was one frost—three degrees on March 22—and one day (March 30) on which freezing level was touched. The frosts did no damage, however, not one case of “cutting” being recorded. The temperatures for March kept at

a steady mark. The highest solar heat was 127 degrees registered on March 4 and the lowest was 81 on March 11. The lowest in February was 85 degrees on February 7. Following are the detailed returns supplied by Mr J. L. Lennie, Government ’weather recorder, taken from readings made atss a.m. each day:—

THE RAINFALL The following is a comparative table of the rainfall for the past four years:

co co to to to co to m towre roHH hh hhhhhh D&te Howoo-qoicn co to >-* | £*• CO C5 CO 00 05 Q5 tO C35 00 OO 05 05 05 05 OO tO 00 00 OO 00 00 tO I 1 cn oi oo Cloud (0-10) Max. Dry Therm. CT> 07 0 O O1 OT Cl W H O CD M 0505C505CHC5C5<S-3~q-‘4050tCncnCJ<05-3‘<!C5-<l 05 -4 05 CO CD CO co »U CH CH rfi. »£x OO 05 Oh-* 05 CO H * CH tfx Q5 tfr- 05 >u. rfx O2Q Min. Dry Therm. CO CO »U rfx Terrestial Cl re Q 02 CD CH H 1— 1 1—1 1—1 f— I 1— i h- * 1— a |—i 1—1 1— 1 |— x ]—i l—i |—1 f— i i—i |—1 1—1 l—i l—i i—i OODOCDHCOCDHHHHCDOHHHHHHHCOOOCDCOHHHrO »-* 1-1 CO CO "O co Solar Max. Therm. ~l & 1 1 Is H I si fei I i i i i i asi'sgi i i 1 1 g Rainfall (inches) 00 Cn 00 CO -O 05 CD . rfkOpOCA, I co W CO CO C5 CD pt I I 1 M CO 05 | cn cn bo co J-* 1 to Jp*. bo * 1 1 io bo * -<J 05 CH tO Sunshine (hours) mgjtnmsmK =3’ 1 2!| 1 1 1 Iz'HmMWI H| I si ■ is is .m w tnnw .W is Direction of wind

1936 1937 1938 1939 Ave. January 4.10 4.38 3.73 7.80 5.00 February 2.33 5.88 2.20 3.94 3.58 March 5.22 5.41 4.47 1.70 4.20 April 2.73 3.07 .07 May 4.36 3.69 4.85 June 2.76 2.90 4.28 July 4.83 3.48 2.64 August 4.20 1.99 2.88 September 5.19 2.04 2.01 October 4.38 1.37 4.88 November 4.94 2.56 3.24 December 4.09 3.46 7.57 TOTALS 49.13 40.23 43.45