NZ weather summary March 1955

[Rwood]

March 1955:  A warm, cloudy month with predominantly settled weather. In some areas pastures were too dry, notably in the Waikato. The only period of generally unsettled weather occurred from the 10th to the 15th as a tropical cyclone moved toward Northland from the northeast, and later remained off the west coast for two days. Strong southeasterly gales affected many districts from Marlborough to Taranaki on the 11th and 12th, and several buildings were damaged in Picton. In Northland many roads were flooded on the 15th, after 5 days of heavy rain.

Rainfall: Rainfall was below normal over the greater part of the country, and the deficiency exceeded 50% over most of Taranaki, the central high country of the North Island, Manawatu and North Canterbury. However, there was an appreciable surplus from Auckland northwards, over most of the Gisborne district and Hawkes Bay, and also in parts of Nelson and Marlborough. It was the wettest March on record for Whangarei (Glenbervie), with a total of 17.56”, of which nearly 15” fell between the 10th and 18th. Some exceptionally heavy falls were reported from central Hawkes Bay on the 10th, including a fall of 13.3” at Anawai, Maraetotara.

Temperatures: For the 5th successive month temperatures were well above normal over most of the country. The departure exceeded 2F over the northwestern part of the South island and over the North Island except for Gisborne and Hawkes Bay. For Ruakura, Hamilton, it was the warmest March in 40 years of record. In the North Island some unusually high temperatures for March were recorded on the 10th, and on the 14th the combination of warm temperatures and high humidity proved to be very oppressive.

Sunshine: Sunshine was below normal except in the Wairarapa and in parts of Southland. The deficiency exceeded an hour a day over most of Westland and Taranaki and also over the Auckland province north of Hamilton.

[Some totals: Te Hapua 158, Kaitaia 168, Kerikeri 128, Whangarei 124, Auckland 164, Tauranga 181, Taupo 195, Hamilton 167, New Plymouth 181, Masterton 203, Gisborne 187,  Napier 199, Paraparaumu 165, Ohakea 164, Palmerston North 141, Wellington 172, Wanganui 181, Westport 150, Hokitika 146, Greymouth 135, Haast 157, Nelson 206, Blenheim 203, Grassmere 194, Mt Cook 160, Methven 156, Christchurch 164, Tekapo 215, Timaru 152, Waimate 134, Omarama 189, Queenstown 183, Dunedin 136, Alexandra 195, Invercargill 158].

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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