新西兰英语 398 Strange weather
Yesterday, some parts of New Zealand east coast had very hot temperatures. This was caused by cyclone Yasi which hit Queensland a few days earlier. It brought very hot weather for the east coast in New Zealand. The east coast of the North and South Islands had temperatures in the 30s. Timaru in the South Island reached 40 degrees at one point.
However, today the maximum temperature for Timaru was only 15 degrees. The wind turned to the south bringing rain and cool temperatures.
The north-west wind is also called a nor’wester or nor’westerly. It picks up water from the Tasman Sea on the west of New Zealand, drops the rain on the west coast and the Southern Alps, and arrives on the east coast as a hot, dry wind.
Often a nor’wester is followed by a southerly, bringing cold temperatures and rain. This seems strange weather but it is not unusual. Our weather in New Zealand can vary a lot – hot one day and cool the next. However, 40 degrees is a very unusual temperature for New Zealand.
Questions
1. People sometimes joke that New Zealand has four seasons in one day. Does your country have changeable weather?
2. Can you see why we put the apostrophe in nor’wester?
3. What is the continent to the south of New Zealand where some of our winter weather comes from?
