Weather Watch: Bahamas only answer to tiresome torrents

I fought the lawn, and the lawn won. Photo / Getty Images

Funny how a week ago I talked about turning weather negatives into positives, but seven cloudy and showery days later even I'm starting to get tired of this weather.

With the exception of Southland and Otago, many parts of New Zealand, especially the most populated holiday regions in the top half of the North Island, have seen rain, cloud and fairly mild temperatures. This doesn't feel like summer. Grass is growing at a phenomenal rate and I'm getting a bit tired of mowing the lawns.

But, with the theme of turning this crap weather into something positive, here are some cup-half-full tweets.

To the news that we're in for a couple more weeks of rainy weather, Auckland's Moe Lewin wrote: "That's ok, would rather that than it be sunny when I go back to work on Monday #feelingbetter."

Fellow Aucklander Zelda Wynn wrote: "Saves watering your garden, and not too hot for the butterflies."

Here's my favourite, from Clare Fletcher. If only we could all magically be able to do this: "Thx for letting me know. Will stay in the Bahamas until it's over!"

So even the worst weather can be made positive. But let's face reality. The models show that the unsettled pattern is likely to continue well into January. Lows are coming at us from the north and southwest. This should mean most of New Zealand will see rain and showers off and on over the next couple of weeks - more good news for the dairy industry as grass will continue to grow at an incredible rate. Droughts look unlikely in any regions. But even if no rain falls between now and February there should be enough water to last several weeks. It's just northern Southland and Central Otago that are especially dry right now.

Many scientists and meteorologists don't consider summer starts until December 22, the solstice. By that logic we are only in the first few weeks - with about 10 more to go. Plenty of time for things to change. #feelingbetter