Wild spring weather ‘next level’ and not easing soon – The Front Page

New Zealand’s been experiencing some wild weather this week.

Red wind warnings were issued for much of Canterbury, Marlborough, Wellington and southern Wairarapa yesterday afternoon.

Flights and ferries were cancelled, and tens of thousands of households have been without power.

Meanwhile, strong winds hampered firefighting efforts in several parts of the country.

So, is this usual for this time of year? And how long will we have to wait for some sunny days?

Niwa principal scientist Chris Brandolino told The Front Page that the number of red warnings reflected the weather’s abnormality.

“I like to call spring the teenager of the seasons. A lot of mood swings, ups and downs, and with that moodiness comes wind.

“It’s not unusual to have windy periods in spring; that’s part of spring. But this is next level.”

We should expect more high winds next week from Labour Day.

“Be mindful that [on] Monday, things are still crystallising. There will be another low coming from the west and north, and that will probably bring with it another round of active weather.

“Probably not to the degree we’re seeing today, but still could be quite impactful.

“We could see some really cold temperatures, unusually cold temperatures behind that on Tuesday, which could impact farmers and livestock because we’re now into the growing season,” he said.

So, when should the weather stabilise to what we perceive as a “normal” spring?

“If you had asked me that a month ago, I would’ve said with a fair bit of confidence it’ll come right in the middle/second half of October. Well, guess what? We’re in the second half of October, and we’re still talking about it.

“It looks like this sort of pattern, where we have active weather, strong westerlies, things like that, up and down temperatures, that’s probably gonna continue throughout at least the rest of October.

“We’ve got another week or so. And if you look at the long-range guidance, it actually may go into the first 10 days of November.”

Listen to the full episode to hear more about:

• Where are these high winds coming from?
• What is the role of climate change?
• What are the impacts of weather events?
• Why we should take weather warnings seriously.

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting, who joined NZME in 2016.

You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.