Dunedin's gloomy weather might lift in coming days but the sunshine will not last long, forecasters predict.
With only two weeks of official summer left, MetService meteorologist Daniel Corbett is predicting more unsettled weather and no "big lovely highs".
Dunedin's February weather, he said, had been dominated by easterlies blowing persistent cloud in from the sea. In Dunedin, 10 of 15 days this month had been affected by easterlies or northeasterlies.
However, a high pressure system was moving close to the country and was expected to bring a "brighter spell" today before a southerly change arrived for the weekend, he said.
Niwa climate scientist Georgina Griffiths said people's perception of gloom was correct. There had been a complete absence of typical February nor'westers bringing clear skies and hot afternoons to the east coast.
"Much of February has been extremely dry but cloudy with drizzle and some humidity."
As of Tuesday, only 52 hours of sunshine had been recorded in Dunedin, which was 34% of February's normal - but there was still about half of the month to go, Ms Griffiths said.
"It's definitely been cloudy, with it coming in off the seas from the easterlies," Ms Griffiths said.
That weather was consistent with a La Nina weather pattern.
The cloudy weather had one positive aspect - it stopped temperatures cooling down at night so minimum temperatures were higher than normal, Ms Griffiths said.
On the negative side, the lack of sunshine and nor'westers meant maximum temperatures were down 2.5degC at Musselburgh and 1.4degC at the airport, on average.
However, looking at rainfall from December to mid-February, only 40% to 45% of the summer's normal rainfall had fallen, but temperatures were near average.
"So summer hasn't been as dire as [some] people think."
With two weeks of February still to go and unsettled weather predicted, weather records might not be broken, she said.
