“So much for spring” is a comment we get each time a cold blast comes in during spring. But spring is not summer.

WeatherWatch.co.nz defines spring as “Winter slowly fading away with hints of summer gradually coming in”. So a cold blast with gales and low level snow flurries is normal – unless it lingers for too long. The fast moving chaotic nature of spring means we’re up one day, down the next. One day it feels like winter is over and summer is here – the next day it’s the other way around.

Take this cold blast for example – it’s brought snow to low levels, a biting wind chill in the south and in some places temperatures are down 10 degrees from just a few days ago. But in true spring style it’s short lived. We have one more wintry day today then tomorrow temperatures bounce back up – by several degrees in the lower South Island.

As we head into this weekend we have even warmer winds – westerlies from Australia and sub-tropical breezes for the north. So while today 70% of the country is below average, by Saturday it may be 70% of the country above average.

If you’re a fan of summer more than winter then you’ll need to wait another few more weeks. Usually Labour Weekend (late October) is the start of a more settled period of weather and usually by mid-November the spring westerlies have stopped blowing so much and it really does feel like summer is basically here.

So for now, welcome to text book spring. 

– WeatherWatch.co.nz