KEY POINTS:
Yesterday evening I was out in the garden giving my plants a much needed water. As I spent 20 minutes trying to un-kink my unkinkable hose (yeah, that was really worth the investment) I was looking around the garden, seeing the flowers, seeing the drying grass, noticing
the clear blue sky and the warm Auckland sea breeze - and I realised we're really having mid-summer weather already.
While December 1st is New Zealand's first day of summer it seems this year Mother Nature had other plans, kicking off summer in early November. (Share your summer weather photos by sending them here.)
November was a very warm month - with temperatures rising into the 30s for several days in the east. Yesterday central parts of Bay of Plenty reached 28 degrees under what can only be described as a summer high. Waikato reached 27 and Auckland and Palmerston North rose to 26. These temperatures are more like mid January temperatures. See a full list of yesterday's highs here.
Some are loving this weather and if this pattern stays with us holiday makers are going to have a cracker summer. I think December will be a hot month. As for January and February it's too early to say if temperatures will plateau or continue to rise making, perhaps, for a record breaking summer temperature-wise.
So, what does our first week of summer hold for us weather wise? Well a small low moving over the country will generate a little bit of patchy rain and drizzle then conditions should clear to a mainly sunny, warm, week.
Conditions in the far south and the West Coast will be a little wetter and cooler.
At this stage northern New Zealand should have relatively light winds with westerlies developing over central and southern parts. That means more hot weather for the east coast with temperatures, yep you guessed it, again reaching upwards of 30.
On a side note our cyclone season is well underway now but, as expected, things are pretty quiet so early in the season. Usually the peak months are around February/March.
I'm going to be keeping a close eye on the South West Pacific and will discuss any tropical storms in our neck of the woods. Looking back on some of the more popular weather stories this year and the Atlantic hurricane season really drew in the visitors, so I thought we should try and have better coverage of tropical cyclones that affect our part of the world. This will be mainly for Australia, northern New Zealand and the South Pacific islands.
They are fascinating to watch and the storms north of New Zealand are just as big as those monster hurricanes in America - it's just there's less land down our way to have them make the news.
Philip Duncan
Pictured above: A giant inflatable Horton the elephant gets close to the crowds during the annual Farmers Santa Parade in central Auckland on Sunday afternoon. Photo / Martin Sykes
For the latest weather news keep up to date with The Radio Network's new Weather Watch Centre or the NZ Herald weather section.