From Auckland to Dunedin to Southland people are writing in to WeatherWatch.co.nz asking “What has happened to summer” following two fairly average to below average weeks of weather.

For western and southern parts of both islands the weather has been changeable recently.  Wellington has had one day of gales, or near gales, just about every week since the start of spring.

However further south it’s the cold that’s taking the charm off these summer months.  While hotter days are going to start pushing into Southland and Otago now, they will still be mixed in with a few spring-like southerlies.

This colder weather across New Zealand is being caused by a lack of big protecting highs over us – instead most of the highs are remaining anchored over Australia.

Dunedin’s high today and Tuesday is just 14 degrees…however by Wednesday 23 degreees is the high under mostly sunny skies.  Then back to 14 by Friday with showers and 20 and mostly sunny by Saturday.  This is a step up from the mostly low to mid-teen highs of late.

Christchurch too is getting changeable temperatures but appears to be overall warmer and drier than other south Island places.  Christchurch may only get to 17 today but 27 is expected by Thursday, 16 Friday then 23 Saturday.

Wellington still has more windy weather to contend with – although hopefully the intensity continues to ease with each week. Across this week we see a spring-like pattern of northerlies and southerlies in the capital.

Aucklanders have been wondering ‘where did summer go?’ now that 2014 has arrived.  When record breaking heat arrived in late November some thought that was a signal towards an extra hot summer.  However our concerns this summer have been to do with lack of rain in some areas not excessive heat.

Auckland doesn’t have a lot of rain in the forecast over the next 10 days, but neither does it have a lot of glorious clear sky days, thanks to the sometimes cloudy flow out of the Tasman Sea.  Both Saturday and Sunday this past weekend were cloudier and cooler than expected due to ‘anticyclonic gloom’ which spread into many western regions of the North Island (low cloud trapped under a high). It lowered temperatures and made for a few drizzle patches.

This week, while the weather is still changeable, we do see a large high pressure system aiming towards the country, especially the north.  The coming weekend looks settled in many of the main centres but winds may again blow through the capital while showers move into southern areas.

Of course not everyone is having a gloomy summer – many eastern and northern areas of both islands are enjoying many hot, sunny, days.

– Image / Maketu Garith Farr

– By head weather analyst Philip Duncan, WeatherWatch.co.nz