September 1980: Windier and milder than usual, with an exceptionally high frequency of northwesterly winds. There were violent thunderstorms in the early hours of the 10th in western areas of the North Island, and a tornado in North Taranaki caused extensive damage to farm buildings, power blackouts and some loss of stock. Avalanches were occurring regularly in August on the Te Anau-Milford highway, and 5 more major ones were reported in September.
Rainfall: Rainfall was above normal in the far north and south, and in western areas. The Southern Alps and West Coast received more than 150% of average. Over the rest of the country rainfall was below normal. In many eastern South Island districts little or no rain fell in September, while the east of the North Island had less than 30% of normal in many places. Kaikoura reported nil rainfall, as did Lyttelton. At some West Coast stations rain (0.1mm or more) fell on every day of the month, but most had 26-28 rain days.
Some totals: Taumarunui 185mm, Stratford Mountain House 723mm, Otira 1065mm, Cropp Hut 1665mm, Maruia 422mm, Milford 1030mm, Mt Cook 526mm, Stewart Is 216mm, Napier 24mm, Kaikoura 1.3mm, Lincoln 1mm, Timaru 8mm.
Temperatures: Mean temperatures were slightly cooler than normal on the West Coast, but above average elsewhere. Many places in the east of both islands were more than 1.5C above the September normal. Maximum temperatures in eastern South Island areas during the latter part of the month were on most days over 5C warmer, due the the foehn effects of strong NW flows.
26.6C maximum at Fairlie on the 30th,
-5.1C minimum at Naseby on the 9th.
Sunshine: Sunshine was above average in the east of the country north of Oamaru, and about Cook Strait. Elsewhere it was below average, with some large areas 30 hours or more in deficit. Christchurch (205) had its sunniest September since 1958. Very low totals included 83 hours at Palmerston North and Invercargill, 75 at Hokitika and 59 at Greymouth (NZ record low for September – about 18% of the possible).
Some totals: Kaitaia 157, Dargaville 135, Waitangi 162, Auckland 147, Tauranga 121, Whakatane 160, Rotorua 143, Taupo 134, Hamilton 120, New Plymouth 142, Masterton 174, Dannevirke 125, Gisborne 209, Napier 204, Ohakea 135, Palmerston North 83, Levin 108, Wellington 182, Stratford 143, Wanganui 150, Westport 78, Hokitika 75, Greymouth 59, Nelson 189, Blenheim 206, Kaikoura 212, Mt Cook 87, Methven 203, Christchurch 205, Tekapo 183, Timaru 171, Oamaru Aero 138, Palmerston 116, Dunedin Aero 128, Dunedin 103, Queenstown 134, Cromwell 161, Alexandra 147, Gore 94, Invercargill 83.
Sources: NZ Met. Misc. pub. 107 (Climatological table, NZ Gazette) and NZ Met. Misc. pub. 109 (Meteorological Observations) - additional comments by the poster.
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May 05, 2015, 09:50:56 PM