Author Topic: NZ weather summary August 1980  (Read 4443 times)

Offline Rwood

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NZ weather summary August 1980
« on: February 21, 2012, 09:05:52 AM »
August 1980:   Throughout New Zealand, August was generally windier than usual, and southern and western areas of the country were considerably wetter than normal. Sea level pressures were higher than normal to the north and lower to the south-east, resulting in a greater frequency than usual of south-westerly winds. During the 15th-17th, there were reports of gale force winds and heavy rain from many areas including Wellington, Central Otago, Buller, Nelson, Marlborough, Wairarapa, Gisborne and Taranaki. A tornado in Onehunga caused considerable damage and resulted in the death of a woman.

Rainfall:
Rainfall was below average in eastern and northern areas of both islands, and in parts of Northland and Marlborough it was only 40% of normal. Over the rest of New Zealand rainfall was above normal, with some stations in Fiordland, Otago, Southland, Westland and the alpine regions of Canterbury receiving more than 250% of the average. Record totals were recorded at Alexandra (64mm, records from 1922) and at Invercargill Airport (162mm, 1939). At Queenstown, the 184mm value was the highest since 1946. Mapua near Nelson, on the other hand recorded only 17mm of rain, its lowest for August since records began in 1922. On the morning of the 25th heavy rain started in Southland and Otago, with flooding in northern, western and central areas of Southland. Lumsden had 84mm from 9am/25th-9am/26th, with 102mm at Te Anau.

Some monthly totals (mm): Chateau Ruapehu 394, Otira 741, Milford 850, Cropp Hut 1169, Omarama 103, Te Anau 257; Albert Park 74, Kaikoura 26, Timaru 20.

Temperatures:   Temperatures were slightly cooler than normal in the North Island and parts of the West Coast of the South Island. Elsewhere it was warmer than usual, and in some areas of Central Otago the mean monthly temperature was more than 1.5C above normal, due to foehn heating in strong westerly flows.

22.2C
maximum at Havelock North on the 13th, -9.2C minimum at Fairlie on the 10th.

Sunshine:  Sunshine hours were near normal over much of the country, except in the Bay of Plenty, Waikato and parts of Manawatu where they were below average, and the east coast of the South Island which had significantly more sun than usual. Largest deficits were at Tauranga (19 hours), Taupo (27 hours) and Palmerston North (45 hours), while largest surpluses were at Christchurch (33 hours), Timaru (38 hours) and Blenheim (28 hours). Christchurch and Timaru both had their sunniest August since 1959.

[Some totals: Kaitaia 177, Dargaville 146, Waitangi 159, Whangarei 165, Auckland 158, Tauranga 140, Whakatane 159, Rotorua 140, Taupo 110, Hamilton 121, New Plymouth 149, Masterton 123, Dannevirke 98, Gisborne 167, Napier 167, Wairoa 162, Paraparaumu 133, Ohakea 143, Palmerston North 80, Levin 110, Wellington 145, Stratford 140, Wanganui 150, Westport 134, Arapito 123, Hokitika 143, Greymouth 104, Nelson 192, Blenheim 200, Grassmere 180, Kaikoura 173, Mt Cook 116, Methven 179, Christchurch 181, Tekapo 178, Timaru 177, Oamaru Aero 166, Omarama 180, Palmerston 155, Dunedin 135, Te Anau 113, Queenstown 114, Cromwell 167, Alexandra 165, Gore 121, Invercargill 110, Campbell Is 11 (3rd lowest)].

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




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