For Southlanders they’ll be saying “about time” but for Aucklanders they’re saying “where’s summer?”.  While only one degree separated the two cities at either end of the nation today the warm 24 degrees in Invercargill would have been a much welcomed treat after weeks of highs only in the mid teens.

For Auckland 23 degrees with a cool sou’west wind and thick cloud cover was enough to get people complaining about “where has summer gone?”.

Auckland’s summer started off with a bang in December with high humidity and high temperatures but since then WeatherWatch.co.nz says the sou’westers have kicked in bringing in a wind chill and seeing temperatures fall – the ‘feels like’ temperature is now about 10 degrees cooler than four weeks ago.

There’s also been a significant cooling off along the North Island’s east coast where Gisborne and Napier have struggled to hit 20 these past few days after easily soaring past 30 several times in the past couple of weeks.

Northland is still feeling the heat – but missing the rain.  Today’s high was 26 in the Bay of Islands but still no significant rain is on the way for at least another seven days.

However WeatherWatch.co.nz believes a new weather pattern may kick in mid next week which could see rain for drier parts of the country.

Image / Dylan Ray