May 1983:   Generally a cool, windy month. Southwesterly winds were more frequent than usual for the whole country, and there were very few northeasterlies. There were more strong winds than usual, especially in the north. Their frequency (mean speed 15 m/s or more) at Auckland was the highest since July 1974. A severe storm affected the Cook Strait region from the 20th-22nd. Southerly winds above 40 knots were recorded for 32 consecutive hours between 0200/21st and 1000/22nd at Wellington Airport, with an earlier period of 15 hours between 3am and 8pm on the 20th, easily the lengthiest severe event since records began in 1960. All flights and ferry sailings were cancelled, disrupting travel arrangements for 20000 people. Farmers in most areas report average conditions for the time of year, with reasonable recovery in most of the areas previously suffering from drought.

Rainfall: Rainfall was below normal in the North Island apart from Wairarapa, southern Taranaki, Manawatu and some central areas, which had up to 200% of normal. Especially dry areas were parts of Northland, Bay of Plenty and Gisborne where less than 30% of normal was recorded. In the South Island northern districts, eastern districts as far south as Oamaru and central Otago had between 50% and 100% of normal rainfall. The rest of the South Island was wetter than usual, especially northern and southern Westland, coastal Otago and the high country. Some local flooding occurred in parts of Dunedin, Balclutha, Milton and low-lying areas of the Tapanui basin after heavy rain on the 17th-18th.  Some 48-hour falls in the Dunedin area included 114mm at Dunedin Airport, 164mm at Ross Creek and 178mm at Whare Flat. SH87 was closed at Middlemarch by 1m of snow.

885mm at Otira, 1691mm at Cropp Waterfall, 140mm at Dunedin (212% of average).

Temperatures: Means were close to normal, apart from areas around Christchurch, Marlborough and southern Hawkes Bay which were 0.5C-1.0C warmer than usual, while parts of Bay of Plenty and some western areas were 0.5C-1.0C cooler than usual. The first 10 days were very mild. Maxima in some eastern and northern areas reached 20-25C on the 5th and 6th, with most of the country 5-8C warmer than average on these days. The rest of the month was generally cool. There were very extensive frosts towards the end of the month, especially from the 22nd-24th. Temperatures became milder during the last 2 days, with maxima above 20C in some northern and eastern areas.

26.1C at Waipukurau on the 6th, -9.4C at Molesworth on the 24th.

Sunshine:  Northern areas of both islands had between normal and 10 hours less sunshine than normal, while central and western areas of both islands and the south of the South Island had between 25 and 40 hours less sunshine than normal. Eastern areas between Gisborne and Timaru had up to 25 hours above average. Among the greatest departures were: Dunedin (-41 hrs), New Plymouth (-37), Invercargill (-35) and Taupo (-32). [Very low totals for the 6-month period Nov 1982-May 1983 were: Greymouth 682, Invercargill 688, Dunedin 700. Of stations with reasonable exposure, only Greymouth (667 in 1957-58) has recorded a lower total than these].

[Some totals: Dargaville 101, Waitangi 145, Auckland 128, Tauranga 127, Rotorua 117, Taupo 101, Hamilton 114, New Plymouth 104, Masterton 122, Gisborne 163, Napier 156, Ohakea 96, Palmerston North 72, Levin 91, Wellington 130, Stratford 99, Westport 92, Hokitika 102, Greymouth 76, Nelson 156, Blenheim 166, Kaikoura 143, Mt Cook 81, Christchurch 123, Timaru 111, Oamaru Aero 99, Omarama 128, Dunedin 66, Queenstown 74, Cromwell 94, Alexandra 91, Invercargill 59, Raoul Is 171.]

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