Summer has ended

People walk through the autumn leaves. Photo / Dean Purcell

Here comes Autumn... our first cold change of 2010 is moving up the country and by the weekend will affect pretty much all of New Zealand.

This morning Southland was the first to receive the southerly change. Last night it was 21 degrees after sunset... by late this morning it was just 11 degrees.

The southerly change is definitely cold in the south but unlike a wintry blast this autumnal change will make many of realise that summer has ended and autumn is now here. By Friday the sou'west change will be moving up the North Island and on Saturday all of New Zealand will notice a drop in temperatures.

In Southland and coastal Otago winds will be up to gale force at times in exposed places and really the next few days look pretty miserable.

However there are some silver linings for those who don't want summer to leave. Gisborne is my pick for the warmest weather. With the wind flow more westerly it won't see such a dramatic drop in temperatures. It will still fall from the late 20s today to the low 20s tomorrow. But that's as bad as it will get.

Overnight lows will take a dive in many southern and western areas...from the low teens to the mid single digits in the South island...and in the North Island from the mid teens to low double digits.

So, as you can see, it's not the start of winter...this is just the start of Autumn. Don't forget there will be long warm spells still to come for the next six weeks at least, especially northern New Zealand.

Meanwhile, the dry weather looks set to stay in the north. No significant rain on the way for the next 10 days for Auckland and Northland.