Looking back - September 1958.

[RWood]

Would be a nice month to rerun, especially in the central and southern parts of the country.

Looking back - September 1958.doc

[TokWW]

I can't quite remember how it went... the last month of living home with Mum as a preschooler in the SE corner of the Wairarapa I remember it was a sunny day in October when I went to school - Dad took a photo well perhaps light overcast..

Seems like a real dry series of months for a lot of NZ that year. Early for a drought to start.

[RWood]

1958 was a rather dry year in many eastern districts plus Nelson & Wellington. Quite a number of places also had their smallest ever number of "wet" days (ie 1.0mm or more). However, wetter than average on the West Coast with a record (to that date) 330" of rain at Milford Sound. That was due mainly to an exceptionally wet 6-month spell Oct 1957-March 1958 with a good strong El Nino going. The second half of 1958 was quite dry in the "wet zones" as well, and a real turnaround occurred with some heavy rainfall in the northern half of the NI in December. The summer of 1958-1959 was sunny and dry overall for much of NZ, particularly in the SI, but Northland was wet.
It was the brightest January on record (to that date) in Central Otago, Queenstown and the Mackenzie country. I can recall one day walking up from Alexandra township to our small bach on the southern hills, thinking it was pretty warm but not uncomfortable. Humidity must have been very low as I was later a bit shocked to find out that the town had recorded 97.0F that day! A very faint upvalley breeze would have kept the hill a few deg. lower.

[Andy]

I can recall one day walking up from Alexandra township to our small bach on the southern hills, thinking it was pretty warm but not uncomfortable. Humidity must have been very low as I was later a bit shocked to find out that the town had recorded 97.0F that day! A very faint upvalley breeze would have kept the hill a few deg. lower.

Alexandra has a great climate. Where abouts was your bach (crib) was it out Conroys way at all, just a guess.

[RWood]

It was actually up Aronui road - peace and quiet till they paved it in the mid-70s but even then it was nice. A little above the lower dam (Lanes or Butchers, can't remember which was which now!) with full views to north, east and west and some shelter from the south courtesy of a slight rise in slope through the property and behind us.

Never tired of the wonderful expansive views, with the Hawkduns forming the "back frame" of the picture. Of course after a rain clearance the northern uplands were often the last to lose the cloud so the view didn't reach to the Hawkduns on those occasions.

[RWood]

During that January in 1959 I also remember a day trip to Wanaka. Perfect weather had been going for weeks with very few interruptions, Wanaka camping ground was busyish but not overwhelmed. Ordinary NZers getting the lake views - guess it's rather different now!

[Michael]

Probably its worth 1 million k + now if its still there

It was actually up Aronui road - peace and quiet till they paved it in the mid-70s but even then it was nice. A little above the lower dam (Lanes or Butchers, can't remember which was which now!) with full views to north, east and west and some shelter from the south courtesy of a slight rise in slope through the property and behind us.

Never tired of the wonderful expansive views, with the Hawkduns forming the "back frame" of the picture. Of course after a rain clearance the northern uplands were often the last to lose the cloud so the view didn't reach to the Hawkduns on those occasions.

[tich]

1958 was a rather dry year in many eastern districts plus Nelson & Wellington. Quite a number of places also had their smallest ever number of "wet" days (ie 1.0mm or more). However, wetter than average on the West Coast with a record (to that date) 330" of rain at Milford Sound. That was due mainly to an exceptionally wet 6-month spell Oct 1957-March 1958 with a good strong El Nino going. The second half of 1958 was quite dry in the "wet zones" as well, and a real turnaround occurred with some heavy rainfall in the northern half of the NI in December.

Weren't there widespread floods in the Waikato and King Country in February 1958? Enough rainfall there to alter monthly if not annual averages. (Though after a prolonged dry spell)

[RWood]

Yes, they had huge totals in that bizarre month. Milford had 69.06", so some large totals occurred over a wide area. It was a very warm humid month in an otherwise cold and windy summer. Very cloudy in many places except near-normal in Gisborne, Hawkes Bay and the Southland Plain (the latter courtesy of being a little south of a large zone of unsettled weather in a blocked situtaion - a week of brilliant sunshine when our school scheduled "square-bashing" while the staff sorted out timetables! ) Not sure what Waikato's annual totals for 1958 were like.