26 Jun 2019

Icy start to day, especially in North Canterbury, central Otago

12:02 pm on 26 June 2019

Most of the country awoke to frosts today, with Hanmer Springs residents most entitled to shiver - their temperature was down to minus 6.8 degrees.

Winter scene, human hand in glove scraping ice from windshield of car

Photo: 123RF

It was not quite the coldest night of the year - last Wednesday Pukaki in the Mackenzie district dipped to -7C overnight.

It was very cold in Central Ōtāgo last night too, with Ranfurly recording -6.3C deg, Lauder -6.2C and Clyde -5.9C, according to Niwa. It gives "an honourable mention" to Auckland, where the temperature was 0.8Cdeg.

Niwa predicts an even colder start for most centres tomorrow.

MetService is also expecting frosts tomorrow with several centres, including Blenheim, Masterton and Taupō in the negatives this morning.

MetService said five more days of a ridge covering the country means people can expect chilly or foggy mornings and bright sunny days extending to the weekend, however, it said Wellington's notorious wind can continue to blow even under a broad ridge.

Record dry spells in upper North Island

MetService says persistent highs over the upper North Island for the first six months of 2019 have produced a record dry January-to-June period for Northland, Auckland and Waikato.

Northland was worst off, with the driest January-to-June records broken in Kaitaia, Dargaville, Whangārei and Kerikeri. Pukekohe and Hamilton have also experienced record dry totals.

Kerikeri has recorded 449mm of rain so far this year, only 52 percent of its normal. This is the driest January to June period there in records since 1935.

Pukekohe has recorded 317mm of rain, only 55 percent of its January to June normal.

Hamilton Ruakura has recorded 276mm of rain so far this year, only 53 percent of its normal. This is the driest January to June period there, a notable record, MetService says, because records started being kept in 1905.