NZ weather summary April 1974

[Rwood]

April 1974: The month showed a kind of north-south reversal from March: pressures were rather high over NZ (but with slow-moving troughs on a couple of occasions) and even higher to the east. The month was characterised by a high frequency of north-easterly winds, giving very cloudy and wet conditions on the eastern side and above normal temperatures in many areas.  Parts of Hawkes Bay and Canterbury were too wet for harvesting some crops. Conditions remained dry in parts of Northland, South Auckland, Waikato, Waitomo and King Country.

Rainfall: On the 3rd-5th, 14th-16th, 18th and 20th-21st there were heavy rainfalls in many parts of the country. On the 16th, 96mm fell in 6 hours in Christchurch, double the previous 6-hourly record since 1929. Over 3 times the normal monthly rainfall was recorded in parts of Canterbury, Marlborough, Nelson, Wellington, Wairarapa and Hawkes Bay [Kelburn’s 328mm was a record for April, including older city sites dating back to 1862. This was the start of a 7-month period that saw 1406mm fall at Kelburn, considerably more than the annual average].

430mm rainfall at Glenbervie (Whangarei), 340mm at Te Puke, 229mm at Waipukurau, 390mm at Waikaremoana, 297mm at Kapiti, 483mm at Wainuiomata, 921mm at Stratford Mountain House, 639mm at Otira, 482mm at Rai Valley, 293mm at Hanmer, 210mm at Christchurch; 18mm at Queenstown Aero, 62mm at Invercargill.

Temperatures: Temperatures were 1C-2C above normal in the North Island, and 0.5C-1.5C above over most of the South Island. The first 10 days of the month were considerably warmer than the remainder in most places.

28.4C maximum at Hororata on the 4th, -7.0C minimum at Mid Dome on the 28th.

Sunshine: Sunshine duration was slightly above average in the west of Auckland and Northland, and on the West Coast. Elsewhere totals were low with the east of the North Island and northeast of the South Island getting 60% or less of the normal, the lowest values for several sites since 1938.

[Some totals: Kaitaia 177, Dargaville 157, Tauranga 156, Whakatane 156, Taupo 117, Auckland Aero 195, Hamilton 171, Taumarunui 132, New Plymouth 160, Masterton 80, Gisborne 93, Napier 95, Paraparaumu 115, Palmerston North 105, Levin 123, Wellington 89, Stratford 94, Ohakune 102, Wanganui 94, Takaka 117, Westport 134, Hokitika 147, Greymouth 137, Haast 158, Riwaka 122, Nelson 123, Blenheim 157, Kaikoura 84, Mt Cook 104, Mt John 163, Christchurch 121, Timaru 124, Omarama 159, Dunedin 96, Oamaru 134, Queenstown 113, Alexandra 127, Invercargill 86, Campbell Is 56 {6th highest}, Chatham Is 56 {2nd lowest}].

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

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