Don't say good riddance to winter weather just yet

The winter weather is not over yet for Rotorua.

Winter may be officially over but do not expect sunshine and higher temperatures just yet.

MetService meteorologist Georgina Griffiths said a cooler-than-usual September was expected for the entire country.

"Since the middle of winter, New Zealand has generally been running colder than normal, due to a higher frequency of southwesterlies and cooler than usual seas around our coastline.

This is standard El Nino for us," she said. "After a stormy start to September, we should then see a progressive shift towards more highs over the country.

"The first week of the month should produce significant rain for all regions of the country, including useful rain into the relatively dry eastern areas.

"But for the remainder of the month, normal to below normal rainfall is predicted for all areas."

Springfield-based weatherman Brian Holden said August had lived up to its reputation as one of the most miserable months of the year.

"It was a cold, wet August.

"It was a degree colder than normal and August is sort of typically considered to be a long month because it's 31 days, and it's usually one of the most miserable months of the year so it gives us the feeling that it's a really long month because of those reasons.

"September, well, it's the first week of spring but we have had a heck of a lot of rain and it was a wet August.

"We had 163mm of rain where it's normally 130mm and it was just as cold as normal, but not as cold as July was.

"It rained for about half of the days in August, but it was a pretty normal August, and there's no improvement expected just yet."