October 1962: Warm, cloudy except in the east and unsettled. On the early morning of the 8th exceptionally strong westerly winds caused damage over a wide area in the Auckland Province, reaching hurricane force on the Hauraki Plains, with uprooted trees and considerable damage to houses.
Rainfall: Above average in northern and western areas of both islands, except for South Westland and Fiordland, and in Central Otago. Many stations in Nelson, Bay of Plenty and Northland had over 200% of average. East of the main ranges totals were mainly about 75% of average, but only about half in North Canterbury. The total for the first 10 months of the year was already exceptionally high in Nelson and Rotorua, with 54.28” in Nelson, not far short of the yearly record of 55.45” (1892), while Rotorua’s 83.03 was much higher than any yearly total except for 1893’s 93.72”.
Temperatures: Warmer than average over the whole country. Departures were mainly 1.7C-2.2C, except over the southern half of the South Island and the Bay of Plenty, where they were 1.1C-1.6C. It was exceptionally warm from the 22nd to the 24th, and Masterton (25.5C) and Wellington (25.1C) set local records on the 23rd.
Sunshine: Below average, except east of the main ranges, where it was close to average. The deficit exceeded 30 hrs in Bay of Plenty, from Taranaki to Manawatu, and from Nelson to Westland. Low records were set for Nelson (146) and Westport (110). Southland and coastal Otago had up to 20 hours more sun than usual. [Broken in 1992 at Nelson and 1988 at Westport. The latter made up for this October with a record high 261 hrs in November].
[Some totals: Te Hapua 173, Kaitaia 166, Kerikeri 167, Whangarei 171, Auckland 152, Tauranga 150, Whakatane 174, Taupo 150, Opotiki 165, Hamilton 146, New Plymouth 129, Masterton 192, Gisborne 216, Napier 204, Wairoa 210, Paraparaumu 135, Ohakea 155, Palmerston Nth 135, Levin 132, Wellington 178, Ohakune 137, Wanganui 143, Westport 110, Hokitika 117, Greymouth 112, Haast 118, Nelson 146, Blenheim 200, Grassmere 185, Kaikoura 199, Mt Cook 119, Methven 181, Christchurch 183, Tekapo 181, Timaru 165, Waimate 147, Oamaru 152, Omarama 167, Dunedin Aero 188, Dunedin 182, Queenstown 158, Alexandra 195, Invercargill 184, Campbell Is 92, Chatham Is 143].
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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June 06, 2018, 07:11:22 AM