La Nina

It's been terribly hot and humid this summer; in Nelson the high has been consistently around 26C (78F) or hotter, except for a day or two last week. Though we usually get a few days of highs around 30C (86F) every year, we normally have rather pleasant summers with highs around 23C (73F) and lows of 15C (59F) and usually we don't keep our windows open all night; some years we even need the service of an electric blanket once or twice.

As well, one thing that's counter-intuitive to us born in the northern hemisphere is this: you'd think our north (closer to the equator) is hotter than our south, and this is pretty true in the winter, but in the summer, not so. In fact, places like Ashburton (south of Christchurch), Alexandra and, from memory, Arrowtown (near Queenstown!) sometimes get the nation's highest temperatures of the day, as well as the lowest in the winter.

Anyhoo, it's going to be another hot one, I hear. Otherwise, I wouldn't be tempted to have a Popsicle right after breakfast, would I.