Issued at 10:56am 30-Jun-2006
Sustained June Cold Was Rare

MetService meteorologists say that the low-pressure system on Monday 12th June was a major system, bringing severe wind, rain and snow. It was followed by a sustained blast of polar-chilled southwesterly winds that kept some snow on the ground for longer than a week.

"Such sustained cold is extremely rare", commented MetService Weather Ambassador, Bob McDavitt. "This is the first occasion we have seen it happen this decade, but there were two notable examples during the nineties."

McDavitt went on to say that the impact of snow in June is good for some and bad for others. "It helps set up the ski fields and that's good for skiers, but it causes an early and rapid dent in winter stock feed and that's bad for farmers."

"A cold start to winter does not mean it will be colder than normal all winter. Sea temperature trends in the Pacific Ocean are showing that we are not expecting EL NINO or LA NINA conditions to prevail during winter or into spring, so there is no reason to expect the rare weather pattern of mid June to dominate July or August."

MetService are forecasting settled weather this weekend but more unsettled weather during next week.

ENDS