Freezing weekend after winter solstice

AUCKLAND: The shortest day of the year in the southern hemisphere is here and, temperaturewise, we are going to feel it.

Today is the southern hemisphere winter solstice, the day with the shortest period of daylight and the longest night of the year.

It occurs when the sun’s daily maximum elevation in the sky is at its lowest.

Given the length of New Zealand in terms of longitude, there is more than an hour difference in the amount of daylight different areas will experience.

Invercargill residents will see just 8hr 35min 1sec, while Kerikeri people will get 9hr 46min 43sec.

As for the main centres, Dunedin will have 8hr 39min 13sec, Christchurch 8hr 56min 23sec, Wellington 9hr 11min 24sec and Auckland 9hr 37min 55sec.

The short day continues a rather bleak month for Christchurch, which by June 19 had only recorded 16.5 hours of sunshine, Niwa meteorologist Ben Noll said.

This included a sixday period, from June 1015, when there was no sun at all.

The month’s average was about 119 hours.

The main drivers of the peasoup weather were fog and onshore winds, which brought moisture inland and trapped it between the mountains and the sea.

‘‘Unless you have some westerly winds, that moisture gets trapped,’’ Mr Noll said.

‘‘It was almost the perfect storm for not much sunshine.’’

So far June had been relatively warm, especially in the northern and eastern areas of both islands, Mr Noll said.

‘‘The first three weeks of winter have been bearable — even subtropical — at times.

‘‘But as we pass the solstice, we are entering a colder pattern. On Saturday morning it will be felt from Invercargill to Cape Reinga. It will be a morning to wrap up in a blanket in front of the fire.’’

Temperatures in the upper North Island will drop into the low single digits overnight, with Auckland dropping below 5degC, and potential frosts further south.

Waikato and the central plateau could drop below 0degC.

In the South Island, temperatures will range from 5degC to 0degC, even on the coast.

‘‘It is going to be a fresh one,’’ Mr Noll said.

Temperatures will warm slightly on Sunday before a front on Monday and Tuesday ushers in an even sharper cold snap.

‘‘The last few days of June and early July are going to be well and truly winter,’’ Mr Noll said.

After that, things would start improving.

In the first few days past the solstice, the amount of daylight will increase by just a few tenths of a second.

However, by July and August the days would be noticeably longer.

One bonus was the cold snap was likely to bring snow to the Southern skifields, Mr Noll said.