July 1980: Throughout the country, July was generally a little drier than normal, and temperatures were near the average. Pressures were considerably lower than usual in all districts and there was a greater frequency of south-westerly winds. Tornadoes accompanied by hail and thunder affected parts of Taranaki during the month causing widespread damage to a number of farms. Hailstones up to 6cm long were reported on one occasion.
Rainfall: Rainfalls down to 35% of the July normal were recorded in central districts of the North Island and in Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, Canterbury, Buller, and Westland. However in Central Otago and Southland some stations received nearly twice their usual amount. Gisborne with 51mm had its lowest July rainfall since 1964, while at Queenstown 97mm fell, the most since 1970 when 112mm fell. During the 24 hours to 9am on the 21st, 72mm of rain were recorded at Albert Park, Auckland. This intensity occurs about once in 2 years. More than half this total fell in the 6 hours from 2pm with more than 10mm between 5pm and 6pm.
Some monthly totals (mm): Queenstown Aero 85, Alexandra 30, Rankleburn Forest 165, Raoul Is 321; Tauranga 53, Napier 49, Ashley Forest 19, Timaru Aero 16.
Temperatures: Temperatures were about average over much of the country, although south-eastern parts of the South Island were about 1.0C warmer than normal. Temperatures were below normal by a similar amount in parts of the Bay of Plenty and the south-west of the South Island. During a warm spell at the beginning of the month daily maximum temperatures were up to 8C above the monthly average along the east coast of the South Island. For the remainder of the month they were mostly below average. On some days this deficit reached 4C over the South Island.
19.8C maximum at Whangarei on the 2nd,
-13.0C minimum at Molesworth on the 18th.
Sunshine: Sunshine hours were mainly near normal over the country. They were below by up to 30 hours in parts of Waikato, South Taranaki, Manawatu, Horowhenua, the Dunedin area, and Southland.
[Some totals: Kaitaia 154, Dargaville 116, Waitangi 142, Whangarei 132, Auckland 132, Tauranga 153, Whakatane 156, Rotorua 141, Taupo 132, Hamilton 102, New Plymouth 134, Masterton 86, Dannevirke 104, Gisborne 148, Napier 138, Wairoa 133, Paraparaumu 111, Ohakea 123, Palmerston North 80, Levin 88, Wellington 109, Stratford 100, Wanganui 106, Westport 112, Arapito 110, Hokitika 120, Greymouth 90, Nelson 156, Blenheim 166, Grassmere 150, Kaikoura 140, Mt Cook 93, Methven 129, Christchurch 135, Tekapo 128, Timaru 129, Oamaru Aero 126, Omarama 139, Palmerston 114, Dunedin 77, Te Anau 68, Queenstown 81, Cromwell 102, Alexandra 97, Gore 79, Invercargill 76,
Campbell Is 22 (2nd highest)].
Sources: NZ Met. Misc. pub. 107 (Climatological table, NZ Gazette) and NZ Met. Misc. pub. 109 (Meteorological Observations).