August 1956: For most of the North Island it was the 5th successive month of unsettled weather, and in parts of the Auckland province the wetness of the ground was adversely affecting the health of stock. In the South Island conditions were much drier and mainly favourable. In the North Island the longest spell of fine sunny weather for four months occurred from the 18th to the 23rd. Three small local tornadoes were reported, all from Taranaki, two on the 24th and the other on the 26th.
Rainfall: Rainfall was below normal over almost all of the South Island and from Wairarapa to central Hawkes Bay. In Marlborough it was only about 1/3 of average. It was wetter than usual from Waikato and Hauraki northwards. A few places, including Auckland, had double the average. It has been an unusually wet winter for western and northern districts of the North Island. Auckland’s 26.56” is the highest for winter in 100 years of record. For most of this portion of the North Island the annual average rainfall was exceeded before the end of August; in parts of Northland it had already been exceeded before the end of July. Many thunderstorms were reported on the 25th-26th, especially in the Auckland province.
Temperatures: Over most of the Auckland province mean temperatures were more than 1F above normal. Elsewhere the month was also mainly warmer than usual, but only by about 0.5F. There were two well defined cold spells. In the first, from the 4th-8th, winds were southerly, with snow mainly on the North Island high country. The second was from the 25th-29th, with southwesterly winds and snow on the high country of both islands.
Sunshine: Sunshine was mainly about normal or a little above. Marlborough and most of Southland had 20-30 hours more than usual, while Gisborne was below by the same amount.
[Some totals: Te Hapua 154, Kaitaia 170, Kerikeri 160, Whangarei 169, Auckland 175, Tauranga 162, Taupo 142, Hamilton 154, New Plymouth 162, Masterton 142, Gisborne 131, Napier 162, Paraparaumu 169, Ohakea 146, Palmerston Nth 130, Levin 161, Wellington 155, Wanganui 163, Westport 148, Hokitika 157, Greymouth 139, Haast 164, Nelson 181, Blenheim 202, Grassmere 186, Mt Cook 110, Methven 155, Christchurch 156, Tekapo 163, Timaru 155, Waimate 150, Omarama 154, Dunedin 148, Queenstown 127, Alexandra 165, Invercargill 150, Campbell Is 34].
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, 2015, 08:53:40 PM