Baby, it’s cold outside

Today New Zealand fell under the grip of the worst winter weather in 15 years, making it the worst winter weather I’ve ever experienced since moving here (this is my 15th winter in New Zealand). The South Island and parts of the North Island had snow down to sea level, and temperatures dropped throughout the country.

However, today was pretty mild in Auckland, as it ordinarily is: It was 6.6 degrees at our house this morning (43.9F). That’s cold, but not as cold as at other times, and positively balmy compared to other parts of the country (weather relativity is evident within New Zealand, too). During the day it hit a high of about 9 at our house (48.2F).

This has also been a day of rain—rather a lot of rain, actually. It could’ve been snow if it was a bit colder, but that would’ve been a pretty freakish event—fortunately. As it is, authorities are warning about “black ice” due to moisture on the roads combined with low temperatures.

We’re probably better equipped to handle this weather than a lot of Aucklanders—including us in earlier houses. We have a very well insulated house and, atypically for Auckland and most of New Zealand, we have central heating (a ducted, whole-house inverter heat pump system). So, you could say we weathered the storm system well (sorry).

We’re only about six weeks away from spring, so this will probably be the last big hit of this winter—probably, but not definitely. The one thing about weather you can be sure of is that you can’t be sure about anything.

Actually, I do know that I’m ready for spring. At the moment, it’s 4.2 degrees outside our house (39.6F) and falling; baby, for us, that’s cold outside…