Fed up with the changeable, cloudy weather?
The bad news is, while the weather is supposed to improve today, it is expected to be changeable for another week.
However, the good news is, it is expected to settle down for the rest of February and March, although it might be hard to beat Dunedin's December 26 high of 28degC, MetService weather ambassador Bob McDavitt says.
"Your warmest time of year is usually late January-February and there should be another opportunity in the next fortnight or so to get [temperatures] in the high 20s [degC]."
Temperatures had been steady, with average maximums of about 18degC to 25degC for most of January and small amounts of rain had fallen regularly since the big rainfall in late December, he said.
National Institute of Atmospheric Research (Niwa) climate scientist Andrew Tait said Otago residents could consider themselves blessed for not living in the North Island, which so far had double its January rainfall just about everywhere.
"Otago's been average."
Cloudy weather on the coast had meant sunshine hours had been below normal but Central Otago had experienced average sunshine for January.
Consultant hydrologist Dave Stewart, of Dunedin, said the summer had been "abnormal from the start" and was preceded by a warmer than normal winter before snowstorms in September.
October and November had been incredibly dry and, by December, rivers and lakes were at levels normally seen in February, he said.
Heavy rain in late December saw lakes and rivers rise to almost flood levels.
A persistent northeasterly weather pattern during the past five weeks was unusual, Mr Stewart said.
