August is here and the weather pattern is changing – to colder weather. This is typically the very coldest time of the year and as we head into the first two weeks of August one thing is changing – we’re seeing more southerly quarter winds in the forecast and fewer days with westerlies or northerlies.

Auckland, for example, has a high of 17 degrees on Wednesday with nor’westers – this is a few degrees above average and has pretty much been the ‘norm’ this winter. This weekend, however, sees highs of 12 degrees and 8 of the next 10 days have winds from the southerly quarter.

Further south and New Plymouth has 7 days of south-east winds about to kick off – this means much colder nights with lows closer to zero and highs closer to single digits than the teens.

Hawkes Bay will also see colder weather – after what has been an exceptionally mild winter for the region at times with highs over 20 degrees, the highs plummet this weekend to 9 and 10 degrees and next week 11s and 12s.

Wellington is even colder – with five days of highs below 10 degrees kicking off this Friday.

The South Island looks truly wintry too. Dunedin has sleet and freezing rain in the next 10 days, while further inland and Queenstown looks incredibly icy.  Highs in Queenstown from today to next Monday hover around 1, 2 and 3 degrees.  The overnight lows in Queenstown over the next 10 days are mainly between -4 and -8 degrees.

Welcome to the coldest time of the year.

– Image / Saturday morning’s temperature map shows most of New Zealand close to, or below, zero degrees

– WeatherWatch.co.nz