Well, what a week.   A big high has rolled in and completely stopped our weather from moving – with many of our readers telling me “summer has finally arrived!”.  I agree with that mentality – despite some cold mornings and the temperatures being Autumnal, we have had something we haven’t seen much of this year – the sun.

And then there were the politics.  Yesterday we announced our Daily Highs service is ending after MetService quoted us far too much for a product that has little value.  I’ve been blown away with the support we’ve had and already some readers are finding a way around it – we appreciate your ideas!  Our website may not be the official New Zealand weather website but we treat this site as yours – as New Zealand’s weather website – and most things we’ve built in to it, and changed, have come as a direct result of what you have requested.

We’ve made our point – we’ll contact the Commerce Commission – but we won’t be running a campaign about this as to be honest we want our focus to remain on you and New Zealand’s weather, this is a small issue – but is the tip of the iceberg of recent issues we’ve had lately. 

So I apologise for having to end the Daily Highs service – despite what some think, our website is actually quite small and we really don’t have the funds to waste on something that doesn’t help people plan their days better.   We are in talks with others to provide a similar service – and maybe for the first time we’ll start reporting highs and lows within the towns – rather than at the airports.  Silver lining.

So let’s get back to the weather – and wow, who else is loving this big high?  Settled, calm and temperatures are about average.  The clouds can be a bit of a pain – where I live in Auckland I get the afternoon cloud build ups right over my house.  While some are spectacular to look at, I can’t help but look over towards neighbouring suburbs who have the sun out.  It’s not always this way – other times it’s the reverse.  

I try to have a glass half full attitude towards our weather.  Yes, a high is moving in – and therefore we feel that we’re entitled to sun – and lots of it.  But in New Zealand we have to always plan for those clouds – part of living on islands in the roaring 40s. 

When it clouds over I still enjoy the peace that highs seem to bring.  Cloudy weather in a high also lifts the overnight temperatures.  A few of you love it cold, but more prefer it cool to mild for sleeping comfortably.  The clouds can do that at night, like a duvet spread over the country.

So this high is in charge until next week…then after Anzac Day the computer models get a little messier.  For now – enjoy what we have, as judging by 2012 so far this possibly won’t last through May.  Time will tell.

– Homepage image / Austin Soriano.

– By Head weather analyst Philip Duncan