Recording the Weather

The Gisborne Meteorology Office at Darton Field is one of 30 such stations in New Zealand which along with many others in Australia and the South Pacific Islands makes constant reports on local weather as it changes through the day and night, to be assembled at the head weather office in Wellington, From these comprehensive reports, which form a pattern of weather fronts and pressure areas over the South Pacific, accurate forecasts are made.

The Gisborne station has a full-time staff of three, who make hourly reports, 20 hours of the day, on our local conditions.

Monthly statistics over many years are also kept, showing rainfall, sunshine, humidity, and temperature patterns, January of this year proved to be a good month for local holiday-makers, having the most hours of sunshine, and the least rainfall, for 17 years.

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Met officer Fred Day checking the rain gauge

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Frank Amann plotting a current weather map of the South Pacific

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The sunshine recorder consists of a spherical magnifying glass which burns a track on a piece of cardboard during sunshine hours.

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Fred Day reading the temperature and humidity instruments contained in a vented housing