Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 38

Thread: Winters in Christchurch, are they really that bad??

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Christchurch, New Zealand
    Posts
    69

    Default Winters in Christchurch, are they really that bad??

    I've read a lot of posts on here about the winters in ChCh and how awful they are, my husband (from ChCh) assures me this is not true, although he does reckon i'm going to have to harden up a bit with regards to the central heating lol.
    Admittedly he hasn't lived in NZ for 12 years now and we're coming from Switzerland where the winters are awful, bitterly cold and seem to go on forever, this last winter was especially harsh and long and it's June now and we've only just started getting some good weather!
    He reckons even in the winter in NZ despite it being cold you get nice sunny days, as opposed to the constant grey here.
    Just wondered about others experiences of ChCh weather?? Oh and when does it start to get warmer, we're moving over at the end of August in the hope of making the most of the summer here and avoiding most of the winter there?
    Thanks all.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Oamaru, Otago
    Posts
    96

    Default

    This is also a concern of ours, since we'll be in Oamaru (even further south than ChCh). But from what I have seen so far, the winter is not all that bad, since there are beautiful sunny skies and temps climbing to the low teens, though they can dip below 0 in the mornings/nights. What surprised me more is that the summers can bring rather cool weather, again particularly in the morning/evening. A few jumpers would be a good thing to bring along. And even here in Beijing this was a horrendous winter--never seen it start snowing so early, snow so often, nor have such long-sustained cold weather. And the spring was remarkably wet and cool.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    North Canterbury to UK
    Posts
    2,755

    Default

    Winter is nothing like a winter in Switzerland, it really only lasts about 3 months.

    Having said that the house you live in will have a big bearing on how comfortable you are. The average house here will fall well short of a Swiss insulated house.

    On the weather side this morning we had snow, not sticking and by 3pm we were sitting on the deck having a cup of tea in lovely warm sunshine.

    Minus 1 now and the stars are brilliant and we're promised a good day for skiing tomorrow, just 90 mins away

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    37,824

    Default

    Here http://www.wunderground.com/history/...q_statename=NA is a website where you can call up different places in NZ, to show you the weather day by day, a month at a time, so you can get a really detailed picture of what you'll be dealing with through the whole year if you want it.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Poole, UK to Chch, NZ
    Posts
    2,064

    Default

    Haha, I can see where you're coming from - we Skyped FiL this morning (he's in Dunedin) and found him wearing 2 t-shirts, a jumper, a COAT and MITTENS!!

    But they live in a south-facing house with paper-thin walls and single-glazed windows. I'd rather he moved back to Northland (where he and his wife have a house) than risk his health by staying in that house much longer...

    Regards Chch, I've friended a lot of hubby's rellies there on Facebook. They might be 4 generations on from the original Brit colonists, but they haven't lost their ability to talk about the weather What I've seen doesn't worry me, and I live on the south coast of England (where anything but rain or sun makes the place come to a standstill).

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    44N to 43S; Oregon to ChCh
    Posts
    1,698

    Default

    No, not really bad at all. Just the houses aren't as warm and dry as you may be used to.
    We caught the tail end of winter when we arrived in Sept 08, had last winter and now this one. The former two were more crisp clear cold, frosts on the ground, sun out during the day types of winters. This one so far has been a bit soggier with more rain, drizzle and hail, but still clear cold days to be had.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Manchester > Now Tauranga
    Posts
    4,393

    Default

    Doesn't matter how cold it is - copenhagen bakery makes it worth it!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Christchurch, New Zealand
    Posts
    69

    Default

    Thanks all, feeling better about it now and have advised the husband a house with heating is a must lol

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Europe
    Posts
    61

    Default

    We were there last year in June/July and it was said it was one of the coldest winters ever. I usually wore a T-shirt, a fleece and a softshell jacket when windy. It was far from winters we have here in the alpine region however with ski hills just an hour away. We fell in love with the place immediately.

    We will land in CHCH on August 20th

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Raumati Beach
    Posts
    135

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by LauraB3 View Post
    Thanks all, feeling better about it now and have advised the husband a house with heating is a must lol
    Good luck on that, 'heating' here is generally jogging on the spot with 6 jumpers, a beanie and a coat on

Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •