Summer at home
Hannah Harte
Patreon: HRMNZ @hannah_harte_
Ōtautahi’s summers are a season I eagerly anticipate, but with a caveat. I no longer expect long, hot days and balmy evenings or consistent weather until well beyond the new year. If I ever have the opportunity to travel in Aotearoa, I always, always pick a time closer to autumn, especially if I intend to head north towards the Tasman region. While the odd night can get quite chilly, the warm, calm days and lack of crowds allow a more reliable chance of an enjoyable break.
Christmas Day conditions in Christchurch are so erratic that the temperature can range from scorching and sunny to cold, windy or drizzly, to the extent that I would never plan an outdoor event around December or even January. When I lived in Takaka, it was a running joke that all the ‘townies’ rushing to the touristy beaches on Christmas holidays were more likely to experience extreme climate events than bask in lovely, calm weather. Certainly, some of the wettest months have hit during the festive season, with particularly devastating flooding in December 2010 and 2011.
Te Waipounamu’s meteorological patterns are far from predictable, but it does seem increasingly obvious that spring is unsettled at best, and summer doesn’t always become consistently pleasant until February, with some of the best conditions stretching into April, which is technically autumn. In fact, ‘autumn’ in Ōtautahi has become my favourite time of year, akin to the memory of the long, delightful summers of my youth. It’s almost as if the seasons have shifted, often fully arriving four to six weeks later than they are supposed to, though spring flowers and blossoms can appear while winter is still in full force, something I have noticed becoming more prevalent in the past decade or so.
El Niño and La Niña episodes are likely to complicate climate issues further, but year after year, it becomes more apparent that the summer holiday period rarely coincides with well-favoured, outdoorsy temperatures. Getting flooded out of campgrounds and festivals or shivering at an outdoor wedding isn’t fun. With this in mind, maybe it is time to consider shifting the dates when the population usually takes a break from work or study.
It makes sense to take some time off to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s, but perhaps shifting extended public holidays forward a month could allow people to enjoy what can be relatively short-lived comfortable weather conditions. Contemplate a week or more break for everyone during the frequently magnificent, dry, sun-drenched late February to March period, and what that vitamin D-rich interval could do to lift both the morale and health of the people who call our meteorologically volatile island home.