Southland is the last region in NZ to farewell Winter and this year it’s taking longer than usual. Wintry bleak conditions have killed lambs and made farming difficult. The bitterly cold air hasn’t really impacted other regions further north to the same degree with the hills and ranges of Otago sheltering many areas further north from the bleak conditions.

The daytime highs reflected in our headline (taken from Gore) show the spring ups and downs in the Southland region. The mid-teen highs will be highly welcome after the bitterly cold wintry snaps lately.

Unsettled weather in the Southern Ocean is normal and so too are cold events like this – but Southland has been in a run of colder days for the past two weeks.

It’s not all doom and gloom – we are seeing an uptick in daytime highs as we get towards the middle of October.

Don’t forget our new website RuralWeather.co.nz is designed so you get fewer surprises with the weather. This new website is local to your farm or community and includes WIND CHILL risks up to 10 days out.

For vineyards we also have a frost forecaster to help you better plan 10 days ahead. RuralWeather.co.nz.

– RuralWeather.co.nz.