THUNDERSTORMS AND HEAT

Taranaki Daily News, 16 January 1933, Page 7

THUNDERSTORMS AND HEAT

78 DEGREES EVEN LAST NIGHT. RAIN SPOILS SATURDAY’S SPORT Scorching weather, a thunderstorm, and a brief torrential downpour were experienced at New Plymouth between Saturday morning and yesterday evening. The heat was so intense—even at 7 o’clock last night the thermometer reading was 78 degrees in the shade—that record crowds were tempted to the beaches.

The summer sky was covered without much warning on Saturday by a black thundercloud that rolled up quickly from the east between 3.30 and 4 o’clock. Prior to its arrival rolls and rumblings of thunder could be heard afar, and there were occasional lightning flashes as the storm drew nearer. The air was stiflling and depressingly electrical and the sun shone down fiercely. Then, suddenly, the rain came down voluminously. Bowling matches were abandoned and cricket was interrupted, but the Southern Cross at Bell Block continued to rise, fly and alight during the rain and thunder. At North Egmont there was not a drop of rain, though the people at the hostel could hear the thunder away below. Inglewopd could be seen in the foreground, but it was very black indeed behind Kaimata and Tariki. Because of the rain golf at the Waiwakaiho and Fitzroy links was interrupted. Yesterday was again a summer’s day—until shortly after 2 o’clock. Then another black cloud appeared suddenly from the east over New Plymouth, hovered for a moment or so, and then dissolved in drenching rain. The crowds on the beaches were sent helter-skelter for shelter, but many of those bathing continued to do so. Soon, however, the rain ceased, the cloud moved on, and it was hotter than ever.

A peculiarity of the rain-storm was its well-defined path. At Inglewood it was said to resemble a cloud-burst. At North Egmont there was no rain, and at the Bell Block aerodrome there was not enough to worry about.