DRY WEATHER

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20028, 8 February 1935, Page 11

DRY WEATHER

HOTTEST SUMMER ON RECORD RAIN BADLY NEEDED In his notes on the weather for January, the Dominion Meteorologist says:— The present summer bids fair to be the hottest ever experienced in the Dominion. Though not quite so much above normal as December, mean temperatures in January were very high. Rainfall was again much below the average over a large part of the country, and though many drier Januaries have been experienced, the continued rain shortage, combined with the very high temperatures, has resulted in serious conditions for the farmer in most of the more thickly settled districts. Pastures are, in general, burnt up and in many places there is' a shortage of water. The milk yield has fallen off very greatly and stock are beginning to lose condition. Cereal crops will be light and the grain in many cases shrivelled. Many of the crops were late sown, and the dry weather has been more severe on them than would otherwise have been the case. The prospects for fodder crops are not good. Insect pests are rather troublesome in some districts. Nelson, Westland, pp.rts of Otago and Southland, and some of the high country of the North Island, are in much better condition than the rest of the Dominion, but for the country as a whole the position is a serious one and rain is very badly needed. Rainfall Heavy rains were recorded in the western half of the South Island. Parts of eastern Otago and South Canterbury and of the high country in Taranaki and Wellington also fared well. Elsewhere the month was a very dry one. The position is most acute in the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and east coast districts of the North Island, and most of Canterbury and Marlborough.

Temperatures were everywhere considerably above the normal. In some parts, January 1887 was hotter, but for the Dominion as a whole last month was probably the hottest January hitherto experienced. In the North Island the departures from the average were everywhere large, but in the South conditions were less uniform. There were not many high temperature records broken, but it was almost continuously warm, and many readings above 90 degrees were registered. South of Nelson and Marlborough the amount of sunshine recorded did not, as a rule, differ greatly from the average for January, but elsewhere the month was a very sunny one. Tauranga reports 327.6 hours, Blenheim 299.1, and Napier 283.9. I Storm Systems Typical summer weather conditions prevailed throughout the month. Numerous depressions travelled across the Tasman Sea and New Zealand, but they were generally quick moving, shallow, and of complicated form. As in the previous two months, they were much less vigorous over New Zealand than over Australia, and none of them produced a really good rain. Again, also, there was an absence of strong outbreaks of cold air from the south, although Australia experienced a number. Disturbed weather prevailed, also, in the Pacific Island groups. There was a considerable amount of westerly wind, especially over the South Island, and consequently frequent heavy rains occurred on the west coast and in the ranges of the South Island. Some of these extended to the high country in Wellington and Taranaki. Such rains occurred on the 7th to 9th, 25th and 26th, and the 28th and 29th. Between the Ist and 3rd, two depressions following closely on one another brought widespread rains, with heavy falls in many places. This was the wettest period of the month. Again, between the 17th and the 22nd, a depression which, though shallow, was of a shape more favourable for rain than most of the remainder, and which was followed by a fairly strong southerly, was responsible for almost general falls. Unfortunately, however, they were in many cases only light.