THE WEEK-END STORM

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXII, Issue 7068, 22 May 1924, Page 2

THE WEEK-END STORM

BAROMETER READINGS IN WAIHI LOWEST FOR TEN YEARS RAPID FALL AND RISE (By 0.F.5.) The storm which passed over Waihi during the end of last week was remarkable on account of the rapid fall in the barometer, and subsequent even more rapid recover} 7 . Till Thursday mid day the barometer was steady round 30 inches. It then began to fall steadily. At Friday mid-day it was 29.50 in. and on Saturday at noon it read 28.85 in The fall continued and the minimum was reached at 6 p.m, when the reading was 28 725 in. Thus in little more than forty-eight hours the fall was Ifin., and in thirty hours before the minimum was reached the fall was about fin. At 9 a.m. on Monday, about forty hours after the minimum, the barometer read 29.75 in., having regained about lin. The above reading# are' the actual readings. Those must be coirected for altitude above sea level and for temperature, for comparison. About .26 to ,30in. must be added therefore to the above readings. The minimum reading of 28.725 in. corresponds with the corrected height of 28.99 in,, say 29in. exactly. NATURE’S RESPONSE The rapid fall on Friday and Saturday corresponded with the gale and heavy rain, which wore nature’s response to the partial vacuum or fall of l|in. in the barometer. After the minimum at 6'p.m. on Saturday, rain and wind virtually ceased and culm and fine weather returned.

Saturday’s low-reading forms a record for Waihi for about the last ten years. On August 3rd, 1916, the corrected reading was 29.06 in. The nearest readings to that were 29.14iu. on 21st June, 1918, and 29.17 in. on 22ud June, 1920. On only twelve occasions in ten years has the barometer real under 29.20 in. The average height of the barometer in New Zealand is about 29,90 in., and varies usually between the limits of 30.50 in. and 29.30 in. Readings above or below these respectively are unusually high or unusually low. The figures quoted in the last paragraph are corrected readings.

PRESSURE ON HUMAN BODY

Low atmospheric pressure means a relief of internal pressure. A faW of lin. in the barometer takes off about half a pound pressure from every square inch of the surface of our bodies. The heart works more easily and the pressure is not so great. To very many a loyv barometer implies more comfort. If the reduction be excessive, as in mountain climbing, the result is harmful, equivalent to the 11 racing ” of a steam engine, or that of a steamer’s propeller out of water. As ever a middle state of affairs is best.

A reduction of half pound por square inch or 70 pounds por square foot is also often responsible for such, cataclysms of Nature as earthquakes and volcanoes, outbursts of gas in mines, etc. The relation between effect and cause is obvious. It resembles lightening the weight on the safety valve of a steam boiler. SOME NOTABLE FIGURES.

It will be interesting to quote some notable figures regarding barometer readings. Redraayne mentions a fall of 1.65 in. in twenty-four hours fiom 29.30 in. to 27.65 in., and rise from 27.G5in. to 29.50iu., or l.SSin. in thirty-six hours. Tins was in December, 1886. Lempfert quotes some exceptionally low readings, below 27.50 in., almost all on or near the sea. The two lowest were 27.17 in. recorded by 8.3. Pathfinder in Lat. 12deg. N., Long. 125 deg. E., east of the Philippines, and 27.135 m. at Oussa, India, on 22nd September, 1885. On the other hand the highest recorded was 31.62 in. at Irkutsk, Siberia, on 12th January, 1915. Low readings are associated with destructive cyclones, high readings with anti-cyclones. The effects of cyclones are well-known and the circumstances accompanying them are well described by travellers, navigators, geographers and historians.