Droughts Break at
p. 159 · Read in the full issue
Atom-Bomb
Weather
Droughts Break at Samar at and Lae
SAMARAI, the picturesque small island off the SE point of the Papuan mainland, usually has a more than adequate rainfall but in the past year has been subjected to several periods of acute drought.
The most recent spell of dry weather ended at the end of May, when about 7 inches of rain fell and replenished tanks that had been dry for weeks. The rain also caused
the cancellation of the flying-boat service.
Lae, across the border in the NG territory, also had a record dry May; virtually no rain fell until the end of the month, when about three inches retrieved the position. This is unusual for Lae, which has any thing up to 200 inches a year—last year’s record dry year produced 156 inches — and which should now be entering its “wet” season. Due to the location of the Huon Gulf and the very high mountains immediately behind it, Lae and its immediate coastal fringe has its wet (or wettest) season May to August when the rest of P-NG has its “dry” (or “dryer”) season.
Odd things have happened to South Pacific weather in the last year or so and there are a lot of people still unconvinced that “them atom bombs” haven’t got some thing to do with it.