Hazelnut

It's the first day of summer here and it's hailing mixed with torrential, driving rain, gale force winds so strong I can hardly stand up and 7-10 degrees below the temperatures in both Auckland and Hamilton where you have the first, official day of winter. We're ten degrees cooler than Wellington with winds 10mph stronger.

Tell me again why you think the weather in NZ is no better than UK?

Woodlea

Who said that? The weather here is fantastic, 19°C yesterday in Rangiora. Not normal for the first day of winter, but not uncommon to get over 20° on a winter's day once every so often. Hardly ever rains here in Canterbury too

Stormer999

Been here over 3 years and there is no comparison between the weather here in Chch and what I left behind in the Midlands. On the beach yesterday down by Bottle Lake Forest 18C with big blue skies. As a motorcyclist and angler my main problems.....forgetting to apply sun screen and forgetting to carry my sun glasses....Perhaps people forget.....

MrsFychan

In my experience the weather here is much more extreme, the sun is hotter and the rain is heavier and the wind is much worse/stronger than I had ever experienced in the UK apart from the Big Storm in the 80's.

take from that what you will but I have discovered that I am quite wind phobic being here and I am not built for the cold

Pom_Chch

Yesterday was the first day of winter, went for a lovely stroll on the beach with an ice cream.

But yes, the weather is the same...

scrubbedexpat094

I'd say that the weather is generally better here than in the UK. Winter is much shorter in terms of those horrendous short days that the UK experiences. However it's tempered with the fact that many houses in NZ are not well-insulated, not properly heated etc. For me, that makes NZ winters just as unbearable as UK ones.

On balance I prefer the weather in NZ. That's not to say that I don't miss those long Summer days I experienced in England.

I do find anything less than 20 degrees C to be bloomin' freezin' these days though . This hardy, northern lass has turned into a soft southerner

BEVS

Our yesterday was very different to yours PomChCH

Absolutely filthy weather here the past couple of days. Bitter cold , torrential rain which is not forecast to improve in the next week and why should it. It is the beginning of 3 months of winter after all. The land needs the winter weather.

The weather is no better and no worse that somewhere/anywhere in the UK. It is not similar at all. It is different. I've never really understood why anyone tries to compare the weather of the UK with that of NZ . It's not logically possible is it. One can only personally compare where one comes from location wise , with where one goes to location wise. That in itself is about topography and latitude .

The weather here is more extreme in it's micro climates but that is to be expected. Look at where this little piece of land lays.

Makes me smile really. The UK met service reported on the Indian summer the UK enjoyed 2014. It has stated unseasonal very warm temps for mid-winter and also during Spring. I doubt there is much wrong with the met office memory.

Our UK family and friends don't seem to be everlasting holed up under a continuous gauze of gloom and drizzle. Far from it . They do the self same outdoorsy , sunshiny activities as are peddled as somehow NZ exclusive & they do them regularly, work permitting . lol

There is absolutely nothing wrong with my memory either. Perhaps people needed to look no further South that the SW coast of England.

SO I'd say to you Hazlenut. Embrace and enjoy your weather wherever you are. If you come to New Zealand you will be living with the same thing - weather

BEVS

Actually poo. I have just read that we once again have a severe weather warning in place.

Hazelnut

Yep, whether I like it or not there will always be weather

What I'd like is a bit more warmth with my wind and rain though, can't ride the horse when the horse can't stand upright outside the shelter barn as the wind and hail are so strong and it's only 6 degrees or the snow is so deep we can't walk around without wading through the stuff

I used to live on the Isle of Wight off the south coast and seriously miss the warmer seasons. Whilst I love the lifestyle that's possible further north in the UK due to lower property prices and population densities my ageing bones are findng the nine cold months of each year a bit more challenging than they used to.

Hazelnut

Hope you manage to stay warm and safe Bevs.

Stormer999

Actually got me looking into sunshine hours (weather warning in place for West Mids as well Bevs)
Annual (same site for all three)
Birmingham 1364 hours
Christchurch NZ 2144 hours
Nelson NZ 2477

Thinking about it the temperature has less effect on me than the lack of sun hours....think I will stay here, though Nelson is tempting...sunny in Chch...

BEVS

Therein lies your own compromise Hazlenut.

Where are you in the UK. Not after specifics .General county will do.

The furthest south in the UK that my husband's family live is the West Midlands . Furthest north is Aberdeenshire.

I suppose it is the extremes that can put the mockers on one's preferred activities a bit, which in that fact, is just like here.

Stormer999

Yes you are quite right. Coming from Wales we had a fair amount of rain but I was surprised that Welsh west coast had more sunshine than Coventry area where we left. We never had the worse but also missed out on the best of the UK weather, we tended to get the in between 'grey'. Washing gets dried outside even through the winter in Chch and it is rare not to see the sun for more than 3 days. Been around both Islands in the last 3 years and Chch def has longer settled days I have had to draw the blinds to see my screen today and the washing is out again. We don't seem to get the sudden changes in weather here that NZ peeps complain about.....only when the Nor Wester kicks in. Makes planning for outdoors stuff very easy.

Bo-Jangles

Not much difference from my perspective living mostly in the South East of England where it is very much milder and drier than I ever appreciated when I lived there and in fact it was such an absolute non-issue that only when you come to the other side of the world do you learn that the weather in the UK is so utterly rubbish.


Every time it rains in Auckland *oh that'll be almost every other day then* some smart Alec will ask you 'if it makes you feel at home' - dur, it certainly never rains this much where I come from and never kept me awake at night hammering on the roof.


The winter daylight hours make little difference, it's still dark when I go out of a morning and dark when I come home. Yesterday, in fact I stayed late in the office as it was more appealing than driving through yet another thunderstorm and the rivers of torrential rain.


I have been drenched twice today, first at lunchtime I had to don the full wet weather gear and pull the hood over my head before contemplating the 200 yard dash through the wind and rain to get to a meeting.


Tonight I have had to do the tricky two step and hop skip and jump my way through driving rain and puddles to get something for dinner - so yet another day with no fun and frolics in the sunshine for me.

Hazelnut

I live in quite an extreme area of the UK. About 350m up and in a cold and wet area. Most NZ areas I've looked at have higher rainfall than where I currently live but the Verage temperatures are considerably higher all year round and the sunshine hours in NZ are often double what I have where I live now.
Friends who live over there say the rain patterns are different too. We often have constant rain for two to three weeks at an time, most friends say you tend to have heavy downpours in NZ but at least some of each day is dry.
What MrH and I want to leave is the nine months where we are at risk of heavy frost and the five months of snow or snow risk combined with regular weeks at a time varying from -2 to -18. This winter was our first one since we moved here that we only had two bouts of very mild snow and didn't drop below -10 at all.
I want to live somewhere where I can grow veggies without having to do it all under poly tunnels and where pears and plums can be grown outside.