Summer solution: MOVE IT
Shifting official timing a possible antidote to dismal weather
Sick of the summer that’s not really been summer? There is a simple proposal to fix the situation: move the official summer months. Labour Day once heralded the start of summer — cicadas hissing, sun sizzling — but this summer many Kiwis have been more likely to go running for their winter woollies than the swimming togs.
The idea of moving the summer holidays to February would disrupt the school year and likely create chaos in the tourism industry during its peak season, but as the school holidays draw to an end without much sun it's an idea many say is worth considering.
United Future leader Peter Dunne said the holiday period needed to change, suggesting New Zealand follow the European holiday format. “We ought to consider . . . having a shorter break at Christmas, and then the main holiday in mid-February to mid-March.
“The funny thing is, everyone says it’s a really good idea, then they say ‘oh it’s too hard to do’. It’s not really, but it just needs someone to grab it with both hands.”
Dunne said there’d been a noticeable shift in summer weather patterns, which could be partly due to climate change. “If you look at the last few years you see February, March, even into April has been pretty good. I don’t think that’s necessarily always been the case.”
Weather Watch’s Philip Duncan described our current summer holiday timing as “bizarre”. The past five years had seen summer shift back by about a month, he said. “We should push [the holidays] out to mid January and February. That’s when the driest, hottest, weather of the year is.
“It’s bizarre to me that we shut down at Christmas. Obviously there are Christian holidays wrapped around that, but I don’t really understand why we shut down then.”
Secondary Principals’ Association president Sandy Pasley believed there would be some merit in starting the school year later, but it would have to fit with exam structure.
“Hot classrooms in February can be difficult, but schools need enough time to teach their students the curriculum before exams and it's already really tight at the moment.
“If exams were put off until December, they would still have to be done in time for Christmas, and then that would leave NZQA marking them over the Christmas period, which wouldn’t be the best.”
Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Chris Roberts said the idea of moving the summer holidays would create some challenges but might lead to some benefits for the tourism industry as well.
“On the positive side, more settled, warmer
weather would encourage Kiwis to get out and enjoy all the great activities New Zealand has to offer.
“It would also mean that operators running weather-dependent activities would have less disruption during their peak period,” Roberts said.
But moving school holidays to February would exacerbate the challenges of seasonal demand.
“International visitor arrivals peak during February, and this has been boosted in recent years by visitors travelling to New Zealand for the Chinese New Year holiday. So tourism operators are already very busy.”
This summer has been so bad in some people’s eyes that there have been calls to scrap outdoor events in December and January altogether.
Wellington City Council has had calls asking why it bothered holding public events in January with such poor weather lurking.
Forced to cancel several outdoor concerts, the council also ditched its Pasifika Festival, and changed times for several other events.
Last weekend disgruntled customers demanded a refund after heavy rain and strong gusts wrecked Auckland’s Ignite Light Show.
Tennis great Serena Williams famously said this summer was “abhorrent” and gave her the “least favourite” conditions she’s ever played in. “At least I can get out of these conditions so I can get somewhere better, and warmer weather too,” she said after leaving Auckland’s ASB Classic this month.
Summer, for some, is also seen as the period when daylight savings begins and ends — the last Sunday in September to the first Sunday in April.
Kiwis historically aren’t averse to altering time, and have changed daylight savings several times since it was first officially adopted with the Summer Time Act in 1927. In 1941, due to World War II, clocks were moved forward half an hour — a move made permanent in 1945.
The current daylight savings time was implemented after a petition of 42,000 signatures to Parliament.