New Zealand Local Weather Forum
Weather Discussion => Historical => 1955 - 1959 => Topic started by: Rwood on March 26, 2018, 05:50:21 PM
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June 1955: Dull, unsettled weather prevailed throughout the month. Several cold spells were particularly noticeable after mild May temperatures. Stock were in good condition over most of the country. A very deep depression which crossed the country at the start of the month caused some heavy rain, with flooding in central Southland, parts of Otago and in the Wanganui district. South and West Otago had more flooding on the 10th-11th. A northwest gale caused some damage in Wellington suburbs on the 13th. Whirlwinds were responsible for some local damage at Camerons (Westland) on the 16th and at Wanganui on the 22nd.
Rainfall: Rainfall was appreciably above normal over Southland, the greater part of Otago and Canterbury, about Wellington City, and in South Taranaki and parts of Northland. Dunedin had one of its wettest Junes, with 6.22”. A few areas in Gisborne, Hawkes Bay and South Canterbury had less rain than usual. Rain was more frequent than usual in most districts, with Whangarei and Wellington setting June records (26 and 25 days).
Temperatures: Temperatures were below normal by about 1F over most of the North Island and northern parts of the South Island. Elsewhere they were about normal, except in the far north and parts of Central Otago, where they were about 1F warmer than usual. There were falls on the high country of both islands on the 8th-9th and 16th-17th, with snow to low levels in Southland and Otago on the first occasion. It was particularly cold at Cromwell on the last 4 days of the month, with the temperature never higher than 1C.
Sunshine: Sunshine was below average over most of the country. The departure was greatest in Northland and in inland districts of the South Island. Tekapo and Alexandra had their cloudiest June in over 25 years of record. [Both since surpassed].
[Some totals: Te Hapua 104, Kaitaia 94, Kerikeri 96, Whangarei 81, Auckland 114, Tauranga 145, Taupo 128, Hamilton 124, New Plymouth 120, Masterton 74, Gisborne 124, Napier 132, Paraparaumu 114, Ohakea 113, Palmerston Nth 90, Levin 109, Wellington 89, Wanganui 95, Westport 113, Hokitika 123, Greymouth 113, Haast 143, Nelson 157, Blenheim 154, Grassmere 138, Mt Cook 69, Methven 103, Christchurch 91, Tekapo 74, Timaru 106, Waimate 102, Omarama 97, Dunedin 71, Queenstown 57, Alexandra 62, Invercargill 56, Campbell Is 15 {double the average!}].
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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Just looking through and was wondering if there was a long term record kept for Waitangi, on the Chathams?
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Yes, it has records from the 1950s. I have mentioned them in the sun list in some of the posts. Cloudy climate averaging less than 1500hrs per year (manual). AWS temp and rain records currently but not sun since the 90s.
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Thanks for that. I noticed that Met Service doesn't seem to display any readings from the Chathams.