New Zealand Local Weather Forum
Weather Discussion => Historical => 1960 - 1964 => Topic started by: Rwood on May 11, 2018, 07:23:56 PM
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December 1961: For the third successive month barometers were unusually high over New Zealand, and December was warm and for the most part sunny and very dry. From Taranaki and Hawkes Bay to Canterbury the weather had been comparatively dry since the end of September, and in some areas there was little or no green feed. Elsewhere conditions were more variable, but still mainly too dry, except in Southland and Bay of Plenty. Dairy production was suffering.
Rainfall: Rainfall was mainly less then half average, except over the greater part of the Auckland province and in Southland. In a number of areas it was below a quarter, especially north of Kaitaia, to the north and east of Kaipara Harbour, around the western side of Egmont, the Napier-Hastings area, the Marton area, around Christchurch, and in some inland districts of Nelson, Marlborough and Canterbury. The only areas wetter than normal were most of Bay of Plenty north of Rotorua, eastern Coromandel and just south of Hamilton. Around Whakatane it was particularly wet, with totals up to 12”, of which more than half fell on the 3rd and 4th. For the 3 months October-December rainfall was the lowest in more than 50 years for a number of stations in the southern half of the North Island and also in Marlborough and Canterbury. These included Marshlands (Blenheim) 0.95”, Hastings 1.24”, Christchurch 1.4”, Palmerston North 2.7”, Wellington 4” and New Plymouth 6”.
Temperatures: Temperatures were warmer than normal, mainly by 3F-4F. Higher departures were recorded on the central plateau of the North Island and in some inland districts of Canterbury and Otago.
Sunshine: Sunshine was above average for most of the country, by 30-90 hours. Western districts were particularly favoured, with departures exceeding 50 hours. Some of the highest totals were recorded at Foxton (311, top for the month), Wellington (297), New Plymouth (297) and Wanganui (290, record high for December). Less sunshine than normal was recorded in eastern Northland, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and parts of coastal South Canterbury. The only station with a deficit over 30 hours was Kerikeri. [Paraparaumu’s 308 hrs is also a December record; New Plymouth’s value was not exceeded till 1974, at the Airport site].
[Some totals: Te Hapua 181, Kaitaia 215, Kerikeri 182, Whangarei 180, Auckland 277, Tauranga 229, Whakatane 214, Taupo 229, Hamilton 263, New Plymouth 297, Masterton 263, Gisborne 237, Napier 253, Wairoa 226, Paraparaumu 308, Ohakea 303, Palmerston North 280, Foxton 311, Levin 278, Wellington 297, Wanganui 290, Westport 257, Hokitika 255, Greymouth 238, Haast 219, Nelson 280, Blenheim 283, Grassmere 277, Kaikoura 220, Mt Cook 174, Methven 221, Christchurch 216, Tekapo 291, Timaru 164, Waimate 183, Oamaru Aero 201, Omarama 240, Dunedin 221, Queenstown 288, Alexandra 257, Invercargill 202, Campbell Is 132 {a near record value for any month}, Chatham Is 147].
Sources: NZ Met. Misc. pub. 107 (Climatological table, NZ Gazette) and NZ Met. Misc. pub. 109 (Meteorological Observations) - additional comments by the poster.