The weather around New Zealand lately has had moments of extreme – with gales, thunderstorms and some flooding.  However it pales in comparison to the major storms blasting parts of the Northern Hemisphere at the moment.

In late November, as people in Auckland experienced a record breaking humid heat wave for a few days many were asking if mid-summer weather had already arrived – while on the other side of the world people across the US, Canada and UK were talking of mid-winter weather arriving early. 

The state of North Dakota – in the upper midwest – had a feels like temp of minus 40C the other day.  Major ice storms have made for commuter chaos across stretches of highway the length of New Zealand.

Snow continues to fall through the deserts of Nevada and New Mexico and from coast to coast both the US and Canada are shivering under extreme Arctic cold. Rivers and lakes are now starting to freeze, some say earlier than ever in the Pacific North West.

In the UK another storm has brought severe gales to main centres – a video on our website over the weekend showed a Boeing 777 trying to land at Manchester Airport almost sideways. After two goes the pilot gave up and landed elsewhere.  This follows on from a wind storm a few weeks ago which caused deaths and damage across Europe.

So the rough winter weather in the north is just getting started – as our traditionally settled period of weather is just getting underway.  WeatherWatch.co.nz will continue to bring you overseas weather news from a close friends at CNN International, Weather.com out of the US and Weatherzone in Australia.

– Image / File, Neal Jefferson

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