'Summer of discontent' may be set for an improvementBRADEN FASTIER/FAIRFAX NZ Rain hits Nelson last Friday, as the first of two weather systems "outside the normal range" swept the country"Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York ..."You probably recognise that. The "pattern we've been locked into", he explained, had tended to see high pressure systems over the North Island and low pressure ones affecting the South Island. That differed from the normal summer trend, when high pressure systems generally drifted south, forming a sort of buffer shielding the country. This summer, the high pressure systems hadn't come south, or at least hadn't stayed south, with a wide range of factors possibly playing a part. There may not be much we can humanly do about our "summer of discontent", but it seems a solution of sorts might be on the horizon.

Source: Stuff January 24, 2017 16:04 UTC