Cold southerly creeping up the country

Southern and eastern parts of New Zealand have already had to deal with it - now it's everyone else's turn.  A cold southerly flow is creeping up the country and our recent summer warmth is about to fade away.
 
Yesterday a number of South Island centres hovered around the 8, 9 and 10 degree mark while southern and eastern parts of the North Island (Wellington to Masterton) didn't do much better.  A short trip north saw temperatures reach 21 degrees in Napier however by 5pm a wet southerly had set in and it was pouring with rain and only 13.
 
This cold air is only slowly advancing - not what I'd call a southerly "blast"...but the air is pretty cold.  Thanks to the big ranges that stretch from Wellington up to Gisborne that cold air will mostly be contained to the east.  So while western places from Kapiti to Auckland will still feel that cooler southerly breeze - reaching Auckland later today or overnight tonight - it will still feel quite warm in the sun.  It's when the sun goes down that everyone will notice it.
 
Overnight lows will be single digits nationwide this weekend - including our friends in the winterless north, Whangarei.  Saturday and Sunday nights will be coldest with frosts possible, actually, likely from Invers right up to Hamilton.  Aucklanders will freak out as the temperature plummets to around 5 degrees in sheltered places (I love how we can't really handle the cold).
 
Just getting back to today's weather - Canterbury will again see another very cold day with places like Timaru most likely again failing to make it into the double digits.  Yesterday Hanmer Springs (which I always want to pronounce "Hamner"...it feels so unnatural to have the 'n' before the 'm', who on earth named that place?) reached just 7 degrees.  That's pretty miserable even for South Island standards.
 
On a totally unrelated topic - how are you enjoying the Swine Flu media coverage?  I realise it's a serious problem, and you all know I had a bird flu kit (which I'm now dusting off - and to those who mocked me, HA I'm not sharing my kit with you).
 
I have been laughing at all the TV news coverage...both here and overseas.  It's so over the top - one American cable news network said "This could potentially kill 10 million people worldwide" then shortly followed it up with "Now we don't wanna freak any of you out".  I had tears rolling down my face. Sometimes I wish I could write blogs for the Herald on topics other than weather - I'd have a field day with this one.
 
Anyway - to bring it back to the weather, I did some research on whether the weather can help spread swine flu - hey I may as well jump on the band wagon.  I was tossing up whether or not I should go dramatic for ratings, or just be normal.  I decided normal.  As much as it would've been fun to have headlines like "Deadly rain clouds on the way?".  That's the great thing about question marks in headlines - you can say anything as a headline so long as you end with a question mark.  "Storm of the century heading our way?".  "Hitler still alive?"  "Swine flu to kill 10 million?".  You get the point.
 
So I looked into how the weather affects the flu - just in general, not specifically swine flu.   You may - or more than likely may not - find this link interesting. 
 
Finally - duck shooting season is upon us.  For those who love living the idea of my nightmare (cold, wet mornings, walking through long wet grass and mud very early in the day - not my cup of tea) then the forecast isn't looking too bad.  Plenty of cloudy periods around the North Island with showers in northern and north eastern parts of the North Island.  Cloudy periods around the Waikato and possibly stretching as far south as Manawatu - may even be a shower in the east around Hawkes Bay or Masterton.  I hope that pleases my boss, who loves duck shooting...I think that's the forecast he was wanting. 
 
The South Island - mainly clear and frosty.
 
Happy duck shooting - I'll be thinking of you while I'm fast asleep in my cosy warm bed.

Philip Duncan

Photo / Sarah Meyrick