The weather is mental over here

The weather in NZ is described by some as “four seasons in one day”. Well, they are correct. If one day the temperature is 27C/80F, the next it can easily be 11C/52F. Over here it is supposed to be summer in December, but I haven’t seen any of it yet :-)

Then there’s days when the sun is shining but also a cold southerly breeze (straight from Antarctica) is blowing. On those days the sun makes you sweat and the wind makes you shiver at the same time. Sweater on, sweater off. Sweater on, jacket on, jacket and sweater off, etc. etc. etc. I suppose we’ll get used to it eventually, we regularly see Kiwis walking about in shorts and tees when the temperature is just 11C/52F, without them showing any sign of being cold.

The weather forecast here is a complete show with a computer animated flyby of the country. However, the value of all this is purely for entertainment purposes, because the actual forecast is never to be trusted. NZ being an elongated island with a mountain range in the middle of an ocean makes it virtually impossible to accurately predict the weather. There is a chance that the weather forecast is correct, but there’s just as much chance that the weather will be completely different. Today, for example, it was supposed to rain the whole day with a temperature of 13C/56F. This morning there was a small shower. The rest of the day was pretty nice: partly cloudy with a temperature of 20C/68F. I’m not complaining. Not today, at least :-)