Ken Ring Predicts a Short, Wet Summer but an Early Start to the Ski Season
Ken Ring says “bring on global warming this summer; we’re going to need it if we want hot weather!”
Ken Ring, author of the popular Predict Weather Almanacs (Random House New Zealand) and who determines weather by the orbits of Sun and Moon, says that this summer season campers will have to pick dates carefully, as the best camping weather for the whole season is only likely to be 16 December-8 January; with some improvement from 12 to 16 January and in the first half of March. The worst time to be camping may be the second week in January and the period 21-27 January, when stormy weather is expected.

Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve should be mostly sunny for the whole country, says Ken Ring, but stormy weather may affect holidaymakers through the second week of January and also 21st-27th, when remnants of a tropical cyclone are likely to affect Coromandel and the Bay of Plenty. January should be wetter than average for the upper North and South Island and February wetter for the lower North Island and Southland. February should be a similar story to January with at least some rain every week. The summer’s hottest times will be around the beginning and end of each month; Ken Ring says that summer full moons always bring the warmest weather conditions and this season this occurs around 30 December to 2 January, 27 to 30 January and 23 February to 1 March.

Overall the season’s temperatures should be cooler than the long-term average. Farmers will be disappointed with lowered soil temperatures, but will welcome mid January rains. Skiers will appreciate skiable snow remaining on Ruapehu heralding an early start to next year’s season. Surfers will be glad of big swells resulting from close Earth-Moon distances. By mid February Canterbury may find itself in early autumn, with south-westerlies causing it to be the coolest February in at least a decade.

Ken Ring’s Winter and October 2009 predictions bode well for accuracy of his summer predictions
Ken Ring accurately predicted the unusual cold of winter and October at least a year ago, according to one South Island newspaper. On 2 February in the Otago Daily Times, Mr Ring warned that winter cold would this year break records. His 2009 almanac predicted that August and September would warm up, that October would be colder than September, that late-season snow would remain on the slopes and sheep farmers would face lambing losses. Mr Ring’s summer forecast is for an early uninterrupted dry spell from mid December to early January, after which weekly rain spells could disappoint campers.

Ken Ring’s Predict Weather Almanac 2010 is now available in bookshops nationwide.