Author Topic: NZ weather summary October 1980  (Read 4127 times)

Offline Rwood

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NZ weather summary October 1980
« on: February 21, 2012, 09:10:51 AM »
October 1980:  Over most of New Zealand, October was a windy, sunny, and mild month with below average rainfall. There was a high frequency of north-west winds although in the north, north-east winds predominated. In the east of the South Island spring crops suffered from depleted soil moisture. The Milford Sound-Te Anau road reopened to tourist traffic in midmonth, after having been closed by avalanches since mid-August. Early in the month gale force winds fanned fires in Otago and Canterbury. These caused the loss of 8000 hectares of tussock land in Otago and more than 1300 hectares of beech forest at Mt Thomas Forest.

Rainfall: Rainfall was above average in Fiordland, the north of the South Island, about Manawatu, and in the far north of the North Island. Elsewhere it was below average, and in some eastern districts was less than 50% of normal. During the 9th, localised heavy showers in the Dunedin area made roads slippery and accidents were reported. Heavy rain during the 17th-19th in the Manawatu area caused some lowland areas to flood on the 18th and 19th. Rainfall totals for the 3 days included Palmerston North (71mm) and Waipuna (79mm). Christchurch with only 12mm of rain had its driest October since 1961. The total September-October rainfall of 13mm was the lowest for these months at the airport since records began in 1943. The combined September-October rainfall at Timaru (23mm) is the lowest total since 1954, and the 3rd lowest since 1897. At Paparua (Canterbury) 6mm of rain was measured, the lowest October total since 1954, and Otoko (Gisborne) with 24mm had its driest October since 1961.

Some monthly totals (mm): Cape Reinga 108, Palmerston North 130, Rai Valley 263, Milford 635; Albert Park 46, Hamilton 34, Gisborne 27, Hastings 20, Oamaru 24, Invercargill 49.

Temperatures:  Mean temperatures were above average over most of the country. Many eastern districts were over 1.5C warmer than usual and both mean maxima and minima were above average. At Christchurch airport the mean maximum of 20.0C was the highest since 1961, and this value has been exceeded only once since records began in 1953. The extreme maximum of 30.1C on the 27th was the highest October temperature ever recorded at the airport. At Onepoto (Lake Waikaremoana) the mean maximum of 16.7C was the highest since 1963.

31.4C maximum at Christchurch on the 24th, -5.5C minimum at Naseby on the 5th.

Sunshine:
  In northern districts, western Bay of Plenty, and in most of the western, inland and southern areas of the South Island sunshine hours were below average. Elsewhere they were mostly above average, and areas of North Canterbury had an excess of over 40 hours. The largest surpluses were noted at Christchurch (44 hours), Kelburn (31 hours) and New Plymouth (25 hours). Largest deficits included those at Kaitaia (26 hours), Alexandra (42 hours) and Dunedin (28 hours).

[Some totals: Kaitaia 163, Waitangi 169, Whangarei 158, Auckland 168, Tauranga 192, Whakatane 219, Rotorua 200, Taupo 181, Te Kauwhata 146, Hamilton 160, New Plymouth 199, Masterton 226, Dannevirke 200, Gisborne 232, Napier 233, Wairoa 236, Paraparaumu 183, Ohakea 200, Palmerston North 168, Levin 161, Wellington 216, Stratford 184, Wanganui 188, Westport 144, Arapito 123, Hokitika 153, Greymouth 117, Nelson 232, Blenheim 244, Grassmere 229, Kaikoura 236, Mt Cook 129, Methven 214, Christchurch 236, Tekapo 162, Timaru 175, Oamaru Aero 142, Omarama 162, Palmerston 134, Dunedin 135, Te Anau 155, Queenstown 168, Cromwell 171, Alexandra 158, Gore 140, Invercargill 152].

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





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