July 1959: Like the previous month, July was comparatively mild and sunny over most of the South Island. In the North Island it was a fairly typical July. Most of the country enjoyed a spell of settled, sunny weather from the 10th to the 21st. A spell of southeasterly weather from the 23rd-26th was cold and wet, with snow to low levels in the South Island and well down on the hills of the North Island. There were some lambing losses in Hawkes Bay and Wairarapa in the latter period, but in general conditions have been very favourable for stock.
Rainfall: Over the greater part of the country rainfall was close to or somewhat below normal. On the West Coast and in Otago it was mainly half of average, and in western and southern districts of the North Island about 2/3. The only considerable area with rainfall well above normal was North Canterbury and Marlborough, excluding the Sounds. In parts of this area it was more than double the average value.
Temperatures: Temperatures were mainly close to average in the North Island, and 1F-2F above average in the South Island.
Sunshine: Most eastern districts, areas about Cook Strait and South Westland were favoured with 10-40 hours more sunshine than usual. In the Christchurch-Ashburton area it was one of the sunniest Julys on record, with totals of 150-170 hours. In western districts north of Greymouth and from New Plymouth to Auckland sunshine was below normal by about 20 hours.
[Some totals: Te Hapua 138, Kaitaia 148, Kerikeri 128, Whangarei 137, Auckland 106, Tauranga 148, Whakatane 167, Taupo 139, Hamilton 106, New Plymouth 112, Masterton 138, Gisborne 154, Napier 146, Wairoa 148, Paraparaumu 129, Ohakea 121, Palmerston Nth 83, Levin 108, Wellington 140, Wanganui 121, Westport 110, Hokitika 117, Greymouth 96, Haast 149, Nelson 175, Blenheim 173, Grassmere 165, Mt Cook 85, Methven 167, Christchurch 160, Tekapo 115, Timaru 129, Waimate 122, Omarama 134, Dunedin 110, Queenstown 89, Alexandra 122, Invercargill 105, Campbell Is 11, Chatham Is 82].
Sources: NZ Met. Misc. pub. 107 (Climatological table, NZ Gazette) and NZ Met. Misc. pub. 109 (Meteorological Observations) - additional comments by the poster.
Share Topic
May 08, 2018, 08:54:57 AM