In just over a week the shortest day will be with us and so far we’ve escaped much of the winter gloom and cold.
The sun is now rising after 8am over the southern half of the South Island and setting near 5pm over much of the country.

WeatherWatch Analyst Richard Green says ” Traditionally it’s the 4 to 6 week period after the shortest day that we can see the coldest spells during winter even though the length of days are slowly stretching towards the longest day “.

A number of forecasters have said that this winter doesn’t appear to be particularly severe with just occasional cold southerly outbreaks which appears to be nothing out of the ordinary according to Richard Green.
” Following a record breaking mild May it doesn’t necessarily mean the next 3 months will follow in a similar pattern but the indications are there that winter in 2011 shouldn’t be bitterly cold overall but some days will certainly be very crisp here in the south. We need to remember that Invercargill shivered just a few days ago and failed to climb above 4 degrees “.

Wintry weather over the last four to six weeks in eastern parts of Australia and inland parts of South Africa have caught many local residents by surprise and with Brisbane failing to hit teen figures on Friday, Queenslanders were seen grabbing extra layers of clothing and remaining indoors.