Author Topic: NZ weather summary June 1978  (Read 9267 times)

Offline Rwood

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NZ weather summary June 1978
« on: February 15, 2012, 01:11:42 PM »
June 1978:  Pressures were appreciably below normal over the northern half of the North Island, and slightly above in the south of the South Island during June. Winds were predominantly easterly over the whole of New Zealand throughout the month. In the Wellington area there were 17 consecutive days with southerly winds, and nearly 80% of the time during the month winds were from this direction, more than double the June average. Cloudy conditions prevailed east of the main ranges with sunshine well below normal. This was the first month this year with temperatures considerably below normal over the majority of the country. Conditions were unusually dry on the West Coast.

Rainfall: Rainfall was above normal in most districts east of the main ranges and especially high on the Coromandel Peninsula, Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa, the Kaikoura coast, and parts of Canterbury. In Buller, Westland, Fiordland, and parts of inland Southland the rainfall was well below normal. Milford Sound recorded only 30mm for the month, the lowest for any month since the station began in 1930. On the 21st-22nd torrential rain along the northeast coast of the North Island caused a large washout on the Auckland/Whangarei railway line near Wellsford, and roads were blocked by slips in the area. Chiltern rainfall station on the Coromandel Peninsula recorded a 24-hour fall up to 9am/22nd of 153mm, and 70mm in the previous 24 hours. Road and rail services were blocked by debris and slips when a combination of heavy seas and rain occurred on the 23rd/24th in the Kaikoura area.

Some monthly totals (mm):
Marsden Pt 429, Coromandel 545, Ruatoria 361, Kaikoura 190, Christchurch 106; Ohakea 39, Hokitika 117, Milford 30, Mt Cook 83, Wanaka 15.

Temperatures:
  Temperatures were below normal over the major part of New Zealand, the only areas being slightly above normal being Northland, parts of Auckland, and Nelson. Some districts in Canterbury, Otago, and Southland were below by more than 2C, and in the North Island they were below normal by 0.5C in many areas. The coldest spell during the month was from the 26th to the 30th. On the 29th maximum temperatures were below normal by as much as 5-8C on the east coast of the country.

22.0C maximum at Ruatoria on the 1st, -9.7C minimum at Ophir on the 15th.

Sunshine:   Sunshine hours were below normal over the whole country apart from parts of Taranaki, Southland, and the West Coast. Wanganui’s 63 hours was its lowest in any month since records started in 1937. Kaikoura also recorded its lowest ever. Hokitika had 24 hours more than normal, its highest June total since 1967. Many stations on the east coast had only 60-80% if their normal sunshine hours.

[Some totals: Kaitaia 99, Dargaville 89, Waitangi 102, Whangarei 89, Auckland 81, Tauranga 93, Whakatane 110, Rotorua 104, Taupo 76, Hamilton 77, Taumarunui 64, New Plymouth 109, Masterton 54, Dannevirke 54, Gisborne 79, Napier 87, Wairoa 80, Paraparaumu 99, Ohakea 97, Palmerston North 87, Levin 103, Wellington 68, Stratford 70, Wanganui 63, Westport 132,  Hokitika 142, Greymouth 128, Riwaka 121, Nelson 126, Blenheim 102, Grassmere 94, Kaikoura 70, Mt Cook 75, Mt John 123, Methven 110, Christchurch 84, Tekapo 87, Timaru 99, Oamaru Aero 91, Omarama 116, Palmerston 99, Dunedin 72, Te Anau 52, Queenstown 76, Alexandra 68,Gore 74, Invercargill 74, Chatham Is 42].

Sources: NZ Met. Misc. pub. 107 (Climatological table, NZ Gazette) and NZ Met. Misc. pub. 109 (Meteorological Observations).




Offline ato2

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Re: NZ weather summary June 1978
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2018, 10:12:39 PM »
What a miserable month for sunshine!
"Send more beer!"
[found in a report to HQ, from a Officer stationed in some outpost in Roman Britain]

Offline Rwood

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Re: NZ weather summary June 1978
« Reply #2 on: June 16, 2018, 05:18:41 PM »

Certainly for most - but 1968 and 1981 when published will be seen to be worse … noteworthy that Milford had a record high May total of 1338mm, followed by an all-time monthly low of 30mm this month!

Offline tich

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Re: NZ weather summary June 1978
« Reply #3 on: June 18, 2018, 03:07:35 PM »
No mention of snow to low levels during the cold spell late in the month - I believe Chch got a significant dumping with much disruption.

Offline Rwood

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Re: NZ weather summary June 1978
« Reply #4 on: June 18, 2018, 03:17:47 PM »
I checked the weather sequence part of the report (quite lengthy overall) - no mention. Maybe they had a space limitation for these Gazette supplements? :)


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