September 1978: Pressures were above normal over most of New Zealand during September, and exceptionally high to the east and south of the country. Winds were considerably lighter than usual throughout the month. At Paraparaumu no gusts of over 34 knots were recorded, and this has never occurred before in September (records from 1948). Cloudy conditions prevailed over most of the country with parts of Canterbury and Otago having their 4th consecutive month with rainfall well above normal. Temperatures were slightly cooler than usual east of the main ranges.
Rainfall: Rainfall was slightly above normal in parts of Northland, Auckland, Poverty Bay, Hawkes Bay and the Wellington area. In the South Island the only areas with totals below normal were parts of Nelson, Westland, inland Otago and most of Southland. The greatest departures were in Canterbury, where many stations had more than 200% above their September averages. At Methven, 242mm were recorded, more than 370% of normal. At Highbank Power Station 46mm were recorded in 12 hours on the 16th, and in the 48 hours from the afternoon of the 15th nearly 87mm. The 4 months from June to September have been exceptionally wet in parts of inland Canterbury. Near Hororata more than 500mm were recorded in this period, the normal value being about 240mm.
Some monthly totals (mm): Kelburn 186, Stratford Mountain House 765, Westport 346, Ashburton 151, Temuka 155; Hastings 35, Milford 278, Invercargill 35.
Temperatures: Temperatures were below normal in parts of Northland, Bay of Plenty, Poverty Bay, Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa and most of the South Island east of the main ranges. Greatest departures of nearly 1C below were in Hawkes Bay and inland Canterbury. Areas of Taranaki, Nelson and Westland were above normal by about 0.5C to 1.0C.
21.5C maximum at Napier on the 29th,
-6.7C minimum at Ohakune on the 2nd.
Sunshine: The only areas with sunshine hours above normal were parts of Northland, Taranaki and Southland. In Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa, Nelson, Marlborough and Canterbury the month’s totals were below normal by 40 to 50 hours.
[Some totals: Kaitaia 177, Dargaville 147, Whangarei 126, Leigh 145, Auckland 162, Tauranga 143, Whakatane 157, Rotorua 128, Taupo 129, Hamilton 142, Taumarunui 112, New Plymouth 175, Masterton 118, Dannevirke 109, Gisborne 158, Napier 142, Wairoa 135, Paraparaumu 153, Ohakea 160, Palmerston North 126, Levin 139, Wellington 135, Manaia 145, Wanganui 159, Westport 135, Hokitika 141, Greymouth 139, Riwaka 158, Nelson 170, Blenheim 149, Grassmere 126, Kaikoura 136, Mt Cook 103, Mt John 149, Methven 141, Christchurch 148, Tekapo 143, Timaru 127, Oamaru Aero 138, Omarama 129, Palmerston 124, Dunedin 134, Te Anau 137, Queenstown 141, Alexandra 143, Gore 141, Invercargill 154, Chatham Is 72 (3rd lowest)].
Sources: NZ Met. Misc. pub. 107 (Climatological table, NZ Gazette) and NZ Met. Misc. pub. 109 (Meteorological Observations).
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February 15, 2012, 01:09:57 PM