Wow, what a shift in the weather pattern this month from previous months.  At the moment there are four areas of low pressure around New Zealand.  Earlier this year these lows were still on our weather maps, but were mostly in the tropics or around Australia.

But now the lows are moving our way and with them comes the rain and swings in temperatures.  Earlier this week from Auckland down to the upper South Island  we saw heavy rain – now we have heavy showers and rain coming in (or came in overnight) for Northland and other northern regions.  This will continue off and on for the next several days.

At the same time we have rain moving into the eastern coastline this weekend – good for the still dry farms there.

In Auckland a warm air will flow will cross the city from the north and north west – but in the South Island winds from the south east or easterly quarter will be much colder for a number of main centres.

We often see this in Autumn – the upper North Island holding on to an “Indian Summer” while southern and eastern parts of the South Island feel a much stronger change towards winter.

The unsettled weather pattern, in our view, is enough to reverse most – if not all – the droughts.  While a dry spell is likely to end April and start May we see more signs of life in the rain department for the month of May.  There’s a chance the rain totals won’t exceed April’s, but we don’t expect another bone dry month ahead either.  The weather patterm has now changed.

– Image / www.mandenomoments.com

– @PhilipDuncan on Twitter.com