August 1955: It was a mild cloudy month, reasonably favourable for lambing. On the first 3 days of the month southeasterly winds, so frequent in July, again covered the North Island, with heavy rain in Gisborne and Hawkes Bay, with flooding in some areas. On the evening of the 9th thunderstorms were reported in the Auckland and Taranaki provinces, and at Aurora in South Taranaki 6 cows were killed by lightning. On the 10th 3 small tornadoes were reported in New Plymouth, Waitara and Whakatane. All caused some local damage.
Rainfall: Rainfall was above normal in Hawkes Bay, Taranaki, Wellington, Marlborough and Nelson; also in parts of the Canterbury high country. Greatest departures were recorded from Napier to Castlepoint and in northwestern Nelson, where rainfall was about double the normal. Gisborne had its wettest August for 30 years, with 7.5”. It was drier than usual over the Auckland Peninsula, in most eastern districts of the South Island from Kaikoura to Invercargill, and also in parts of the high country between Bay of Plenty and Gisborne. Banks Peninsula and parts of Central Otago had less than half the normal rainfall.
Temperatures: Over most of the country it was about 2F warmer than usual. However, in coastal districts of Otago and Southland it was only slightly warmer than average. Christchurch had its warmest August in 50 years.
Sunshine: Sunshine was close to normal over most of the Auckland province, including Gisborne, but elsewhere it was cloudier than usual. In coastal South Canterbury, parts of Central Otago and Nelson City, it was one of the dullest Augusts on record, with departures of up to 40 hours below normal.
[Some totals: Te Hapua 150, Kaitaia 158, Kerikeri 151, Whangarei 144, Auckland 146, Tauranga 163, Taupo 121, Hamilton 135, New Plymouth 136, Masterton 130, Gisborne 161, Napier 147, Paraparaumu 120, Ohakea 118, Palmerston Nth 107, Levin 108, Wellington 108, Wanganui 127, Westport 123, Hokitika 119, Greymouth 107, Haast 117, Nelson 141, Blenheim 147, Grassmere 142, Mt Cook 92, Methven 144, Christchurch 129, Tekapo 142, Timaru 113, Waimate 104, Omarama 130, Dunedin 114, Queenstown 104, Alexandra 115, Invercargill 96, Campbell Is 13 (about half its average of 27].
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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March 25, 2018, 07:14:26 PM