Heaviest frost starts ‘yo-yo week’
The duck pond at Timaru’s Botanic Gardens was frozen over yesterday on the town’s coldest morning so far this year.
Timaru residents woke to a frosty – 6.5 degrees Celsius, lower than the – 5.4C on June 6, MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris said.
‘‘I would expect a few other places today [Monday] saw their coldest temperature.’’
Pukaki Airport was – 7.3C, a ‘‘little warmer’’ than the – 8.6C it faced on Sunday morning, while Aoraki/Mt Cook was – 5C, compared to – 6.5C the day before.
The temperature at Aoraki/Mt Cook had jumped to 13C by late Monday morning, after a ‘‘warm north-westerly wind’’ came over the Southern Alps mountain range, Ferris said.
‘‘The June daily average for Mt Cook is about 8C, so the fact it’s 13C means it is warmer than average,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s not too unusual. It’s a fairly new station, so we only have data from 2013 [onwards], but the area is expected to reach up to 15C at least once a month.’’
That same warm north-westerly wind, coupled with a ‘‘really warm subtropical air mass’’, is expected to hit the rest of Canterbury on today and lift temperatures up to 8C above average, as would be the case in Christchurch.
The forecast for Timaru was a high of 16C on today and 17C tomorrow.
‘‘That’s around four or five degrees above average, but there’s a bit of yo-yoing this week, with a good reminder that it is winter coming on Thursday.’’
A southerly change means Timaru’s temperature is expected to drop to a high of 10C on Thursday and 9C on Friday, Ferris said.