DULL WEATHER IN APRIL

Southland Times, Issue 24423, 1 May 1941, Page 5

DULL WEATHER IN APRIL

Little' Sunshine During Month

Although there were no severe storms during April, the weather throughou the month was dull and cold ine rainfall was well above the average tor the month and there was an average of only two and a-quarter hours ot sunshine each day. n , The rainfall for the month was 5.(w inches, and this is more than an mc l above the average for April. Ram ten on each of the first 11 days of the month and the total fall for this period was 3.29 inches. The heaviest falls were .88 of an inch on April 7, , .<u of an inch on April 4 and 13, and .55 or an inch on April 23. The total fall was the heaviest for 14 months, ine rainfall in March of this year was 2.10 inches and in April 1940, 4.84 inches. There were only seven days last month on which rain did not fall. The total rainfall for the first four months of this year is 14.47 inches, compared with 25.79 inches for the same period last year. The high total for the first four months of 1940 is accounted for by the record rainfall of 13.52 inches in February. There were only 67 hours of sunshine last month, compared with 103 hours in April 1940 and 168.6 hours in March of this year. Long burns of sunshine were few and far between. The last burns were 7 hours on April 11 and 7.2 hours on April 20. On eight days there was no sunshine. The sunshine total for the four months of this year is 623.8 hours, compared with 587.3 hours for the corresponding period in 1940. Temperatures were low throughout the month and on only six days were temperatures of more than 60 degrees recorded. The lowest temperature was 45 degrees on April 9. No frosts were recorded last month. Because of the absence of frosts and severe gales, vegetation has not suffered to any extent.

Following are the detailed returns supplied by Mr J. L. Lennie, Government weather recorder, taken from readings made at 9 a.m. each day:—

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

cotorororocotototocoroH- 4 i- 4 MF- 4 H 4 H 4 i-*Mh- 4 ©cooo^-T©cn t p»cotOH*c>cc)Oo<i©cn4^coto>- 4 O 00 00 -•! CO cn W to H Tfette. CO CO o co 1 •C <©> Cn -4 co CO I CO CO -4 Cl nitfl cn tn ui Q OJ Cji tn tn cn Cn Cn cncncncncncncnoicn 1®)) HOOHHOJ O W C0-4£ >—* CH co co co to cn> © cn © Masc. dhy ,U tH tn 4\ 4x CH CO CO 00 4n cn 4n 4n Therm. W OMO HO W WH co 0 co to h w tn tn >iim. dry f pK v|*v ,fs, ifK CO CO CO CO CO CO CO CO CO rfi. 4n to >— 4 © © co — i CO © CD ~4 00 H tn O Ht-cnto CO Q to to cn H H co t-e -j co Terrestial OO IM I1 o tn 1 O O 1 O I O O H 1 i— 4 O to to CO H W<! t-toto M W 1 -1 1 1 to tn | i— 4 -<J 1 to 1 tow to 0 1 co to to to co cn co © -o 0 cn j 1 o 4x O CO 1 1 CO © CO CO 4x . CO 74 © © I b io O | cn to co 4*. ~o 00 1 CO CH 0 © 4x 0 1 0 co co . ! cn 0 cn 1 I toto | to I bo t— 4 1 co (inches) Sunshine I oil cn cn cn I ffi' 71 z ZM (hours) ' .« ' •3-3 3 Wind.

1938 1939 1940 1941 January 3.37 7.80 5.03 4.12 February 2.20 3.94 13.52 3.20 March 4.47 1.80 2.40 2.10 April .07 3.84 4.84 5.05 May 4.85 3.57 4.29 — June 4.28 2.37 3.62 'll July 2.64 4.83 .89 — August 2.88 3.71 2.43 ——■ September 2.02 3.68 2.93 — October 4.88 1.72 3.67 — November 3.24 4.48 1.95 — December 7.57 3.98 2.15 — TOTALS 43.45 45.62 47.72 —