Auckland.

How's the weather down there aucks anyway? We've a heatwave coming! Don't know when though, feels cold where I am!

On Tuesday, we had the biggest storm in Auckland during my 17 years here.
180,000 households had power-cuts. Many are still out.
Wind-gusts of over 220 km/hour.
I was driving in the worst of it. You know how heavy road-cones are? They were flying about like balloons!
Most of the traffic-lights were out too.
That was the scariest drive I've ever had, and that includes dense fog on the A1, and a blizzard without chains.
The parks have been devastated. A big tree came down in my own garden. It squashed a few plants but missed the house.
Very unusual for Auckland to get that extreme weather, though. It usually hits the South Island.
Can't really complain, anyway. We had an excellent summer. Strangely, February (usually the best month) was patchy. That apart, the weather has been generally good since the start of October.
The nice thing is the lack of extremes in Auckland: daytime winter low - 13 degrees; daytime summer high - 26 degrees. Anything outside that range is unusual. We get the occasional light frost at night, but Auckland has never recorded a temperature below zero!
One thing I miss a bit is the pattern of seasonal change. There are so many evergreens here and the winters are so mild, you never know when things are going to bloom. My daffodils always try to come up for a second time in the autumn! Great for spuds and broad beans, though!

I gather the 2017-18 English winter has been particularly bad.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AucklandRover

On Tuesday, we had the biggest storm in Auckland during my 17 years here.
180,000 households had power-cuts. Many are still out.
Wind-gusts of over 220 km/hour.
I was driving in the worst of it. You know how heavy road-cones are? They were flying about like balloons!
Most of the traffic-lights were out too.
That was the scariest drive I've ever had, and that includes dense fog on the A1, and a blizzard without chains.
The parks have been devastated. A big tree came down in my own garden. It squashed a few plants but missed the house.
Very unusual for Auckland to get that extreme weather, though. It usually hits the South Island.
Can't really complain, anyway. We had an excellent summer. Strangely, February (usually the best month) was patchy. That apart, the weather has been generally good since the start of October.
The nice thing is the lack of extremes in Auckland: daytime winter low - 13 degrees; daytime summer high - 26 degrees. Anything outside that range is unusual. We get the occasional light frost at night, but Auckland has never recorded a temperature below zero!
One thing I miss a bit is the pattern of seasonal change. There are so many evergreens here and the winters are so mild, you never know when things are going to bloom. My daffodils always try to come up for a second time in the autumn! Great for spuds and broad beans, though!

I gather the 2017-18 English winter has been particularly bad.

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My step fathers niece and her husband have been over there with you for 2 months until recently. Sounds like they've done well to come back when they did! Don't know where they were staying. I'd have to ask.