This Saturday, Junes 21st, marks the shortest day of the year – or the winter solstice.  “For New Zealand this is when the southern hemisphere has tilted farthest away from the sun” says head weather analyst Philip Duncan.  “Our coldest weather will start now, this is to some the real beginning of winter.  But for those who aren’t fans of winter I guess the positive side is that within a few weeks the days will be noticeably longer”.

And Duncan says the Weather Watch Centre is already monitoring a potentially big winter storm, still a number of days away.  “We’re not ready to sound the alarm yet, but our confidence levels are growing that a significant Antarctic storm may dump snow across both islands next week.  We’ll have more details in the next day or two”.

Meanwhile for more Winter Solstice information, click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_solstice