August 1960: Changeable July weather continued until after mid-August, but a spell of settled weather in the last 10 days was greatly appreciated, especially as it coincided with the school holidays. Overall it was drier than usual; the near normal temperatures seemed rather cool after the mildness of July in the South Island. Spring growth started in some districts and lambing conditions were generally favourable. At Campbells Bay, Auckland, a small local tornado wrecked several houses on the 14th.
Rainfall: Rainfall was about 2/3 of the average over most of the country. In North Westland, Buller, Nelson and southern Marlborough, and also in the Bay of Plenty it was only half. Rainfall was a little above normal around Gisborne and Dunedin, also in Fiordland and parts of Southland. Flooding was reported in coastal districts west of Invercargill on the 4th following 24-hour falls of up to 2.5” on the 3rd.
Temperatures: Temperatures were mainly close to or slightly below average. The first 5 days of the month were unusually warm. Snow was reported in the North Island high country on the 6th and 14th; it fell to low levels in parts of Southland and Otago on the 10th and 11th.
Sunshine: Sunshine was above average over almost all of the North Island and in northern and western districts of the South Island. The surplus was mainly 15-20 hours, but it exceeded 30 hours from Manawatu through Taranaki to Hamilton. It was cloudier than usual in Otago and South Canterbury, with sunshine totals 20-40 hours below normal.
[Some totals: Te Hapua 180, Kaitaia 180, Kerikeri 155, Whangarei 155, Auckland 173, Tauranga 182, Whakatane 186, Taupo 168, Hamilton 184, New Plymouth 197, Masterton 152, Gisborne 162, Napier 166, Wairoa 159, Paraparaumu 199, Ohakea 178, Palmerston Nth 171, Levin 190, Wellington 159, Wanganui 181, Westport 163, Hokitika 155, Greymouth 138, Haast 150, Nelson 186, Blenheim 201, Grassmere 178, Kaikoura 156, Mt Cook 125, Methven 157, Christchurch 142, Tekapo 139, Timaru 124, Waimate 108, Omarama 135, Dunedin 107, Queenstown 107, Alexandra 121, Invercargill 115, Campbell Is 28, Chatham Is 97].
Weather sequence: Main points were a slowmoving depression early midmonth, followed a by a very slowmoving anticyclone. Settled weather dated from the 17th for some areas, and generally from the 21st.
[I spent over a week in Canterbury, mainly around Christchurch, during the settled spell, plus a couple of days in September. The very stable conditions produced a mixture of mainly clear days and ones dominated by large fog/mist patches and/or very low cloud, over the Plains and some of the Otago coast. I recall as an example a completely clear day at a camping ground near Kaiapoi, though there was a stiff NE breeze blowing. On another day we drove to Hanmer and enjoyed mild sunshine there, to return to low cloud and fog on the Plains later. Eventually unstable westerlies in early September broke the pattern. ]
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 09, 2018, 09:19:24 AM