We saw some significant winter temperatures this year, with minus 22 at Lake Pukaki taking the headlines a couple of months back.  Since then we have seen plenty of frost events – but with each polar snap it seems the extreme temperatures have actually been reduced a bit each time.

Now that the days are getting long and many of us are seeing signs of early spring it’s hard to see how another -22 event could occur in New Zealand this year.

Let me be very clear; I’m not saying we’re finished with wintry weather. Snow storms, polar blasts and temperatures below average are all still possible, if not likely…but with El Nino now here coupled with the longer daylight hours, it means things are on the upwards tick temperature-wise…but only slowly.

Clear skies this Friday and Saturday will likely see frosts across both islands with Auckland yet again in the boundary where they fade out.  This has been a common theme this winter too.

Spring is not summer – it’s supposed to have sudden wintry changes in the mix.  So we’re not saying we’re done with snow or frosts.  But as for the absolute coldest part of the year?  It’s most likely behind us now.  

– Image / File, Francis Vallance

– By head weather analyst Philip Duncan