January 1977: Pressures were very low over New Zealand and for the second successive month there was a predominance of winds from a westerly quarter. Palmerston North recorded its highest mean daily wind run in about 40 years. The month was very dry in some parts of Northland and Bay of Plenty. Cloudy conditions prevailed over most of the South Island and the southern half of the North Island.
Rainfall: Rainfall was below the normal value in most parts of Northland, Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay, Taranaki, Nelson and Central Otago. It was more than twice the normal value in some areas of North Canterbury and northern Buller. A thunderstorm in the Dunedin area on the afternoon of the 3rd caused flooding in the Waihola district. On the 18th heavy rain fell in Westland, Canterbury and Marlborough and some stations in these areas recorded falls of between 50mm and 200mm. There was major flooding in Greymouth. During this period rainfalls of up to 42mm were recorded in the Wellington and Hutt Valley area, causing some surface flooding.
Some monthly totals: Kaitaia 32mm, Albert Park 39mm, Tauranga 34mm, New Plymouth Aero 62mm, Hastings 37mm, Alexandra 19mm; Hamilton 141mm, Kelburn 130mm, Hokitika 335mm, Greymouth 270mm, Milford 561mm, Hanmer 137mm, Invercargill 132mm.
Temperatures: Temperatures were below normal over most of the country. In some parts of Canterbury, Otago and Southland they were as much as 2.5C below normal, Lake Hawea being nearly 3.5C below. The coldest spell was between the 18th and the 20th when temperatures fell well below normal on the east coast of both islands.
Unusually low average maxima were recorded at many places, e.g. Kelburn 18.5C, Alexandra 20.8C, Musselburgh 17.0C, Invercargill 16.6C.
31.9C maximum at Christchurch Aero on the 16th,
-1.8C minimum at Waiouru on the 15th.
Sunshine: Sunshine was above normal in the Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay, Taranaki and most places from Hamilton northward, where it was 20 to 30 hours above. In the South Island some areas were below normal by up to 45 hours.
[Some totals: Kaitaia 257, Dargaville 226, Whangarei 238, Auckland 249, Tauranga 266, Whakatane 250, Rotorua 266, Taupo 236, Auckland Aero 267, Hamilton 258, Taumarunui 222, New Plymouth 256, Masterton 219, Gisborne 251, Napier 259, Paraparaumu 202, Ohakea 235, Palmerston North 179, Levin 167, Wellington 222, Stratford 211, Wanganui 223, Westport 186, Hokitika 172, Greymouth 167, Riwaka 229, Nelson 233, Blenheim 246, Kaikoura 227, Mt Cook 131, Methven 186, Christchurch 215, Tekapo 211, Timaru 166, Oamaru 167, Omarama 198, Palmerston 158, Dunedin 136, Te Anau 185, Queenstown 206, Alexandra 207, Gore 156, Invercargill 154, Campbell Is 80].
Sources: NZ Met. Misc. pub. 107 (Climatological table, NZ Gazette) and NZ Met. Misc. pub. 109 (Meteorological Observations).
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February 14, 2012, 03:56:45 PM