March, April and May are our Autumn months. Of course there is a huge difference in temperature between the north and the south of New Zealand but generally in Autumn, it is cool night and morning with sunny days. This year has been especially warm in most of the country. Nelson, near the north of the South Island, had the sunniest April on record. Warm weather has continued this week in many places because of high pressure to the east of the country. Some areas on the east coast have had temperatures in the mid 20s in the last few days. Normal temperatures for this time of year are between 13 and 18 degrees.
Although the West Coast has had rain, warm weather on the east has meant no rain for a long time. Some farmers are concerned about drought conditions.
Autumn is also a time when trees change colour. With the settled weather and very little wind, leaves have stayed on trees longer than usual. Autumn colours in many parts of the South Island are still bringing pleasure to local people as well as tourists.
Vocabulary / Idioms /Pronunciation
• Autumn (Brit Eng) – Fall (Am English)
• huge – very big
• cool night and morning – quick way to say ‘cool at night and in the morning’ (idiom)
• on record – statistics for many years show this April had more hours of sunshine than any other year (idiom)
• drought – not enough rain for a long time, dry weather (rhymes with ‘out’)
• settled weather – the same calm, mild weather every day
• bring pleasure / give pleasure – these words go together (they collocate)
Note: Most New Zealand native trees are evergreen; they do not change colour and they do not lose their leaves. However, many exotic trees (not native) do change colour e.g. oak, maple, poplar