Wellington shivers as southerlies bite

KENT BLECHYNDEN/Dominion Post

WINTRY BLASTS: Between May 1 and June 21 Wellington copped 27 southerly days, with 16 of those wet.

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Wellingtonians bemoaning the consistent cold weather have been vindicated by new figures released by the MetService.

MetService spokesman Bob McDavitt said that several snowy outbreaks in May combined with southerly winds had set the scene for an onset of wintry temperatures.

"MetService data confirms the talk of the town that Wellingtonians have been experiencing a sustained southerly assault so far this winter", he said.

Results show that in the 52 days between May 1 and June 21, Wellington copped 27 southerly days. On top of that, 16 of those days were wet.

This compares with 20 southerly days in the same period last year, of which 13 were wet.

Dunedin came second with 17 southerly days, and 13 wet ones compared with eight and four last year.

Christchurch and Auckland were equal with 13 southerly days. Twelve of these were wet in Christchurch and only nine in Auckland. In the same period last year, Auckland had 13 southerly days, but Christchurch only had five.

Mr McDavitt added that playing fields around the country this winter got muddy earlier than normal because of a very wet May.

"The hardest place to play weekend sport recently has been in Wellington. Their last dry weekend was the first weekend of May.

In Christchurch and Dunedin it was mid-June and in Auckland it was dry last weekend, he said.

While temperatures across the country had taken a sharp dive into in May, they were now levelling out.

The coolest time of the year is likely to be between mid July and early August, as per normal, he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News