News

Although sunshine was sparse today, temperatures were generally milder than the August average with temperatures nearing 20 degrees in inland Canterbury with Culverden taking the national high today of 19 degrees.Lyttleton was pleasant with 18 degrees which is about 7 degrees above average for mid August.

With gale-force winds easing gradually, more than 1000 stranded Mt Hutt skiers are expected to start heading down the mountain within the next hour, after spending a long night in a skifield cafe.

While mountainous areas and some inland areas of the mainland have felt the full force of a nor' wester over the last 24 hours, temperatures have also been boosted significantly.

More than a thousand skiers remain trapped on Mt Hutt in Canterbury this morning after howling winds continued to roar overnight on the mountain.

Yesterday winds were clocked at 200kph which caught skiers and staff unaware as it cut visibility and closed the access road.The stormy conditions had been forecast by some experts to arrive 24 hours later.

Today much of the country is shrouded in cloud and rain as if it was right on cue for a black Friday the 13th.
Gloomy overhead conditions are likely to prevail for more than 80% of the nation.The highly anticipated rainband is crossing the country with not too many areas remaining untouched by the moist Tasman sea visitor.

High winds have closed Mt Hutt skifield today, with around 1000 people stranded on the mountain likely to be spending the night there.

Skifield manager Dave Wilson said the field was closed shortly after noon because of the conditions and driving down the access road was not an option due to poor visibility.

Christchurch surprised many people with a mainly dry night  for the big game between the All Blacks and the Wallabies last night and temperatures at the start of the game were surprisingly balmy at about 12 degrees.

Fortunately the game wasn't being played today in the city as cold temperatures with rain and wind are likely to affect any outdoor activity.

As a weather enthusiast ( ok weather nut!) one thing I find continually frustrating is the constant change of our weather forecasts. There was a time where they might be changed once or twice a day whereas it seems now that there are more updates than there are clouds in the sky.

WeatherWatch.co.nz was offline for 12 long hours following a serious technical fault that developed Sunday evening.

The entire server that hosts WeatherWatch.co.nz and numerous other websites crashed around 10:30 last night and wasn't fixed until about 10:30 this morning.

Today is looking brighter for much of the country compared to yesterday but the place not to be is perhaps the east of the North Island, as rain and showers are taking their time to ease and clear up.

Elsewhere over the North Island, any showers remaining should clear away quite quickly this morning to reveal some sunshine.