October and November have been DRY here in matamata. Parts of the farm with little topsoil have already burnt off and its only early in the month. Summer crops, turnips chicory etc are sat in dry dusty soil struggling to germinate. 50 – 60mm of rain is urgently required with 25mm every 10 days during the summer, not too much to ask is it??? Ken Ring talking about early drought, hope he wrong!! Any decent rainfall on the horzion??

The convection streets here are already higher than the much lower trouble making winter stuff, so the warm season is on track! LOL we’re convection city here. November is always a very windy month for us, so nothing at all unusual there, but W storms have been in short supply for this time of year. I actually think it has been much warmer and drier than usual. I’ve been hosing this month, as the constant winds dry everything out. The winds are carrying less moisture than usual. 2012 has been a chronic year for constant orographic dry winds and corresponding low humidity here, which started in about June. So did the unusually hard frosts. The constant freezing cold, dry E’s were terrible this winter. Dry NW and SW worry me, and hot days straight after a polar SE has cleared the atmosphere have got me watching very closely. I have a bog garden and the evaporation rate this week has been pretty unreal really, and being specialist Nth American carnivorous plants, they can only take soft rain or river water, never tap water. The way things are looking, I’m already storing empty milk bottles to make a few trips to Waikanae River with. In the past it has always been icy cold after a southerly blast has been through, and the longer the blast, the longer the cold days afterwards … but not in 2012. Even in winter this year, it warmed up too far too quickly after the southerlies. For an exercise, I put my temp sensor under the house eaves right next to the concrete drive this week, where it hit 38 one day. Even in such a sheltered place which radiates heat, that is very,very high for this time of year. That’s more like end of December stuff when I move plants away from the heat; I have to do it now though. Sensor has been returned to a street power pole! As for the cold blasts, that is normal and not at all colder than usual, not for the Wellington region anyway. I think we’ve had it pretty good really, all things considered (and I HATE SE’s with an utter vengence!) We’ve had cold southerlies right up until December in previous years and even the occasional one in January where I’ve needed a heater. I can recall snow down South in Dec/Jan. My verdict … warmer & drier with corresponding lower humidity than normal.

Way too cool, way too much wind and cloud from the southerly quarter for this time of year. Would expect more settled weather with temps around the 20 deg mark and higher. Have a gut feeling that this will continue for sometime yet unfortunately.

Cool, windy and unsettled in Christchurch. When warm weather has been forecasted chch has always missed out.

Nelson’s been a little chillier at night but not quite cold enought for crop damage, otherwise a typical spring with plenty of sun and the occasional evening shower. Couldn’t ask for better unless you’re in horticulture.