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It's time to hit the slopes! A few stunning days are on the cards across New Zealand including all our popular ski fields. The high pressure system that will today spread right over the country is similar to that of a summer time high - in both size and air pressure.
In fact, by Sunday the air pressure will be over 1040hPa. High air pressure limits the height of clouds so we end up getting mostly clear skies inland and around coastal areas just a few low clouds that face into the breeze.
Many of our ski fields have seen their heaviest snow falls in at least a couple of decades and that coupled with clear skies and little wind means conditions will be simply perfect this weekend - and into next week for the North Island.
By Sunday a strengthening northerly will move up the South Island and gales are likely to develop - in fact for the first day of Spring (Monday, Sept 1st) the weather is looking incredible "spring like" with gale force northerlies possible over the South Island and mild, partly fine weather over the North Island.
Yes - I said Monday is the first day of Spring and this is certainly an area that causes plenty of debate! There are actually two 'official' spring start dates - the first is this Monday, September 1st. This is the "meteorological first day of Spring". From what I gather this is done to help make record keeping easier - a clean date at the beginning of the month.
Another theory is that the seasons are created by the "average" temps - and June, July and August are our 3 coldest - therefore it's logical that the September should be the start of Spring. The second 'official' start of Spring is during the Spring Equinox - that's when the sun starts to spend more time our hemisphere - this year that's on Monday September 22nd. This is the "astronomical first day of Spring" and is more common overseas - especially in America.
Both are argued to be the "official" start of spring - but in New Zealand is it widely considered to be September 1st. I prefer September 1st, being in Auckland I always feel that Spring really starts in mid-August, that's when the buds start appearing. Some people from cold overseas places like England and Canada think our entire Winter is like Spring!
After all we have daffodils and lambs smack bang in the middle of Winter! I don't think the exact date is worth getting upset about - all that really matters (to me anyway) is when the flowers start blooming and the days start getting longer and warmer! (If you can shed any further light on why Spring starts on September 1st in NZ please do post your comments, what I've written here is only what I've researched in the past few days).
Regardless of the date it certainly feels spring-like. The days are getting longer by about 20 minutes every week at the moment. That's a huge amount of extra sunlight!
By the way - for those following the progress of Tropical Storm Gustav, this storm may well develop into the biggest storm of the Atlantic Hurricane season so far. When it moves out into the Gulf of Mexico early next week it's likely to explode into a Category 3 or 4 hurricane. It's aiming straight for some of the biggest oil rigs on the planet and if they sustain serious damage it may well cause a life in our petrol prices. That's just a theory at this stage but it's definitely worth keeping an eye on. For the best coverage on this storm I highly recommend www.weather.com.
Philip Duncan
Pictured above: Skiing at Treble Cone near Wanaka. Tom Overton (left) and Ollie Paterson get some air as they head over a drop while skiing the powder. Photo / Sarah Ivey
For the latest weather news keep up to date with The Radio Network's new Weather Watch Centre or the NZ Herald weather section.
