Winter weather bites
Brace yourself for a week of chilly nights. But there’s good news too ...
Keep the extra blankets and bed socks close at hand — cold nights are predicted for Whanganui this week. Wintry weather made its presence felt yesterday with a day of chilly rain to mark the passing of Saturday’s winter solstice.
Daytime temperatures struggled to climb into doubledigits yesterday, reaching a high of 11C in the afternoon.
Today there’s a shift to fine, bright days with highs around 14C for the week ahead and the rain drying up.
It’s the nights and early mornings that will remind us we’re into the midst of winter, with lows of just 2C forecast from tomorrow through until Friday, and frosts predicted for inland and southerly areas.
That’s well below Whanganui’s average minimum temperature for JuneJuly which sits at 6C.
MetService says cold overnight temperatures will be
prevalent across the country for the week ahead, especially in inland areas. Low cloud, mist and fog are possible in sheltered valleys and basins.
MetService spokesman Stephan Gallassey said the cool change was normal for this time of year, but “with winds about to turn to a southeasterly, it will turn colder”.
The freezing air which will flow over New Zealand this week is being pushed ahead of an enormous high pressure system which has built up to the west of Tasmania.
The high, expected to reach New Zealand a week from now, is surrounded by an anticyclonic wind flow which will pull cool Antarctic air up and over New Zealand as it approaches.
The wintry chill arrived right on time for the winter solstice.
Saturday marked the shortest day — and longest night — of the year. Daylight hours on Saturday totalled just 9.1 in Wellington, and 8.5 in Invercargill.
That’s around seven hours of daylight fewer than we receive during the summer solstice in December.
Whanganui had its first major frosts of the year on Wednesday and Thursday last week, when the temperature dropped to 2C over both nights.
It was even colder in Taihape, with temperatures of -3C on June 18, -4C on June 19 and -3C again on June 20. Ha¯wera was also colder, with temperatures of 2C, 0C and 2C across three nights.
Although there is a period of cold air, Niwa says a lack of moisture over the next several weeks means the chill is unlikely to translate into much snowfall. The trend of belownormal snowfall is likely to continue into July.
Mt Ruapehu skifields were expecting to open next weekend, a spokesperson said, which pushed back the Whakapapa date from the planned June 22, and was in line with Turoa’s planned date of June 28. Happy Valley has been operating this month.
Whanganui had
its first major frosts of the year on Wednesday and Thursday last week, when the temperature
dropped to 2C.