Last week of spring will be a stormy one

It's the last working week of spring and in true spring style it's going to start off stormy.

Oh and before all of you who believe spring ends the day before the summer solstice please don't email and rant at me! There are two schools of thought to the start and end of the seasons. Firstly the astronomical start of each season which is related to the earth's position with the sun - such as the the longest and shortest days of the year and the equinox. Secondly the meteorological start of the season which in New Zealand means December 1st, March 1st, etc.

I think most Kiwis would associate these dates as the traditional beginnings of each season (certainly I've grown up thinking that), but I know there are quite a few people who would disagree. Me, well I'm a fan of mother nature telling us when seasons begin. I think in light of the temperatures lately and the fact that the Pohutukawas are now flowering, I'm pretty sure summer can officially start next Monday, December 1st!

I should take a poll on this actually - that's something I might do one of these days.

Anyway, back to the weather this week. For Monday a large area of low pressure will be moving over us bringing gales and heavy rain to many parts of New Zealand - especially going into Monday night and Tuesday morning.

Eastern Australia copped a nasty blow from this storm over the weekend - the air pressure dropped well below 980hPa and gave Melbourne a gale force southerly with winds over 100km/h in the ranges around Victoria. The low at one stage even went backwards - sparing much of New Zealand from a wet weekend, although many would've considered the strong wind on Sunday as a bit of a write off.

A large high to the east of New Zealand (that gave us that stunning day last Friday) is making matters worse. It strengthened over the weekend and that's helping boost those strong northerlies across the country for the start of the week.

Once this system clears New Zealand we should be in for a ridge of high pressure again - quite possibly giving much of New Zealand a warm, settled middle/end to the week. But eastern Australia could be in for another stormy few days as yet another late spring (or mid spring depending on your mind set!) low develops.

This next system could be eyeing up our Friday or weekend. Worth keeping an eye on and I'll certainly keep you posted in my Wednesday blog.

Speaking of Australia - did you hear about the huge, freak, storm a couple weekends ago? A

weatherwatch.co.nz

reader sent me this great YouTube link

It's well worth watching the entire clip. Just when you think it's peaked the weather suddenly explodes into something I haven't seen very many times before.

Oh and now that I think about it, why don't I start that poll?! Post a comment below and tell us if you consider the start of summer to be December 1st or the Summer Solstice (around Dec 21/22).

Philip Duncan

Pictured above: Oliva Nadan (13) a young sailor from the Akarana Yacht Club returns from a morning of sailing in gusty winds at Okahu Bay with her instructor Grant Nixon. Photo / Greg Bowker

For the latest weather news keep up to date with The Radio Network's new Weather Watch Centre or the NZ Herald weather section.