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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]

Climate

page 217

Climate.

The alliterative and therefore catching phrase, “Windy Wellington,” without being a decided misnomer, is apt to convey too strong an impression regarding the climate of the Capital. Despite the fact that the Wairarapa train has been twice blown off the line, it is not true that Wellington City is visited by heavier winds than the other centres of the Colony. That there are more windy days is undeniable; but the force of the gales, like that of the earthquakes, is diminished considerably as compared with former times. When the Corporation rises to a sense of its privileges, and sees the wisdom of paving the streets, and sweeping them clean every morning—so as to minimise the dust nuisance—there will be few objectors to the healthy breezes of Wellington.

The rainfall of the city is by no means extraordinary, and there are very few muggy, misty days. Heavy rain is unusual, though occasionally some of the neglected, lowlying parts are flooded for a fewhours. For the past thirty years the average rainfall at Wellington was thirty-eight inches, as compared with forty-two at Auckland, thirty-six at Napier, fifty-nine at Taranaki, sixty at Nelson, twenty-five at Christchurch, one hundred and twenty at Hokitika, thirty-six at Dunedin, and forty-six at Invercargill. At Wellington the rainfall is very evenly divided between the four seasons, thirty-nine per cent. of it falling during winter, twenty-four per cent. during spring, the same per centage during summer, and twenty-two per cent. during autumn. On an average for the years 1890–93 rain fell in Wellington on about 175 days during the year. For the same period of four years, the average at Auckland was 176 days; at Te Aroha, 138; at Rotorua, 157; at Lincoln, near Christchurch, 110; and at Dunedin, 162.

View In Botanical Gardens.

View In Botanical Gardens.

Hot winds are absolutely unknown, and the frosts of winter are exceedingly slight. The temperature of Wellington in the height of summer averages about sixty-five degrees, and in the depth of winter about forty-eight degrees; but it occasionally rises as high as eighty-two, and sinks as low as thirty-four degrees. There are however, very few days during the year either oppressively hot or unpleasantly cold. Occasionally the heat of summer is invaded by a few really cold days, and the changes are sometimes unpleasantly sudden; but as a whole, the climate of Wellington is a rare one even in New Zealand, which is saying a great deal for it. With better attention to back-yard and street cleanliness, and with the improved drainage now being secured, Wellington should be one of the healthiest cities in the world. Up to the present, however, Wellington cannot be said to have compared favourably with the other large towns of the Colony in the matter of mortality. In the vital statistics of the Government Year - book, Wellington frequently figures highest in the death - rates, but it is very rarely the lowest. It is, however, a long way below all the other colonies, some of them being nearly double.