We’re approaching the middle of winter but it seems our severe weather has dropped off the radar as high pressure systems become more and more dominant for a time.

Southland and Otago has had over a week of stable conditions and despite it being chilly there has been little wind and no rain, which is unusual for winter in the part of New Zealand closest to Antarctica.

Meanwhile, apart from Tuesday’s weak low pressure system, the rest of the week looks mostly settled as a very large high over Australia stretches out over the Tasman and spreads a ridge over New Zealand.

A weak south westerly flow is predicted over much of the country bringing a settled and fairly sunny start to July.

In fact, some long range computer models show mostly settled weather possibly well for another week.

MetService also says there’s no sign of severe weather this week with a high bringing calm weather between Thursday and Saturday.

Frontpage image – Northland frost, Laura Jerome