Summer officially starts on the 1st of December in this part of the world and with temperatures soaring into the low 30’s over the weekend in some central and eastern parts of the mainland, you maybe forgiven for thinking it had arrived early.

At the other end of the spectrum however, snow has been falling in and around the Homer tunnel  in Fiordland in a very cold southerly and some hail was reported in the deep south yesterday as well.This is just a stark reminder that Spring is still with us and we can basically expect four seasons in one day!

Now freakish temperature rises and falls can happen at anytime of the year but there are one or two standout events that spring to mind….

During the heatwave of February 1973, Canterbury and Marlborough saw temperatures exceed the 40 degree mark(42.4 degrees officially recorded in Rangiora and Jordan on the 7th making it New Zealands hottest ever day).

In Christchurch on that particular day, the mercury soared to 41.6 but a cool southerly in the evening saw the temperature plunge to 14 degrees, giving Cantabrians a brief respite and a drop of 27 degrees over a 4 hour period.

More recently, Dunedin Airport saw a chilly start to the day with just 3 degrees last Friday morning but by the days end, under sunny skies and hot nor’west winds, 31 degrees had been  clocked up-a dramatic rise of 28 degrees!

The heat is likely to return to parts of the country by the end of this week but hopefully not too many fluctuations will keep us guessing anymore with what to choose from the wardrobe.

Richard Green-Weather Analyst