NZ weather summary March 1977

[Rwood]

March 1977:  Pressures were higher than usual over all of New Zealand, with predominantly westerly winds in the south of the country and easterly in the north. It was very dry in Canterbury, and had been dry in Northland and Auckland until the 21st when substantial rainfalls were recorded over a period of 3 days. This was a rather sunny month over the greater part of the country. Some farmers in Northland reported dramatic pasture recovery, but others still lacked sufficient grass growth. In the South Island some areas were experiencing near drought conditions with fruit ripening too rapidly.

Rainfall: Rainfall was above normal in most of Northland and Auckland and in parts of Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay and Westland, while in some areas of Northland it was above by as much as 75%. Glenbervie Forest recorded more than 275mm during the month, most of this falling between the 20th and 23rd. The rest of the country had below normal rainfall with some areas in Waikato, Nelson, Canterbury and Otago having less than 25% of their normal fall for the month. Lowry Bay in North Canterbury recorded nil rainfall, the first time in records starting at 1947. Many stations in Canterbury recorded totals of less than 2mm for the month.

3mm rainfall at Christchurch Aero.

Temperatures: Temperatures were above normal over the whole country with the exception of the Wellington area and parts of Southland, where they were slightly below. Parts of Northland, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Nelson were 1.0C above normal.

30.9C maximum at Ruatoria on the 7th. -4.5C at Moa Creek, east of Alexandra, on the 20th. Average diurnal range there was 18.0C (20.8C average max., 2.8C average min.).

Sunshine: Sunshine was above normal over the whole country apart from Northland, Auckland, Hawkes Bay, parts of Wairarapa, Nelson and Marlborough.
Areas of Westland, Canterbury, Otago and Southland had as much as 40-60 hours more sunshine than normal.

[Some totals: Kaitaia 155, Dargaville 175, Auckland 189, Tauranga 215, Whakatane 206, Rotorua 218, Taupo 198, Hamilton 202, New Plymouth 206, Masterton 171, Dannevirke 154, Gisborne 202, Napier 187, Kairanga (Palmerston Nth) 214, Palmerston North 185, Wellington 207, Stratford 199, Wanganui 205, Westport 205, Hokitika 212, Greymouth 194, Nelson 220, Blenheim 206, Kaikoura 171, Mt Cook 168, Mt John 267, Christchurch 207, Tekapo 252, Timaru 174, Omarama 228, Oamaru Aero 198, Dunedin 190, Te Anau 191, Queenstown 231, Alexandra 233, Gore 182, Invercargill 157, Campbell Is 28 {record low}.]

Sources: NZ Met. Misc. pub. 107 (Climatological table, NZ Gazette) and NZ Met. Misc. pub. 109 (Meteorological Observations) - additional comments by the poster.

• Tweet