OK, be honest, have you used any heating in the past week or so? It seems like a crazy question but with a couple of cold changes for parts of the South Island recently and a few cooler mornings in the north we were wondering if you had used any heating – even if just briefly!

Maybe you just put the heat on in the car, or perhaps a quick burst of heat at home to remove the chill in the air.

We’ve seen some photos on Twitter in recent days of fires going in Southland – and we were just curious as to how many people have felt the colder air.

WeatherWatch.co.nz still expects a warmer than usual pattern for March in most places and it may be drier overall too with a lot of high pressure building to the west. Although with the heavy localised downpours we’re getting at the moment that may keep some places in the ‘wet zone’. But we must point out the Southern Ocean is looking much windier and stormier mid to late this month and that can often clip the country from Wellington southwards with those windy Autumnal westerlies.