The cloudier and wetter weather may be the result of La Nina but experts say that only about 25% of our weather is because of El Nino and La Nina cycles. These cycles are present in the South Pacific every three to seven years. El Nino means ‘the little boy, the Christ child’ because it happens around Christmas time. La Nina is ‘the girl’.

　　In summer, El Nino brings strong westerly wind and rain on the west coast of New Zealand, while the east coast is drier than usual. On the other hand, La Nina brings more tropical cyclones than usual, south to New Zealand and Australia. The North Island and the north of the South Island get more of those strong north easterly winds and heavy rain.

　　However, our weather is affected by many other things. Most importantly, the latitude of our country goes from 34 degrees in the far north to 47 degrees in the far south so there is a big difference in climate from the north to the south. The sea around our islands keeps the temperatures moderate: we don’t have extremes of hot or cold. Also, the mountains down the centre of the islands force the westerly winds to drop their moisture on the west coasts of both islands and continue as dry winds over the east.

　　Vocabulary

　　?inland – not on the coast

　　?disappointing – we expected something better so we are not very happy

　　?experts – people who know a lot about this, weather scientists

　　?cycles – events that are repeated

　　?El Nino and La Nina are Spanish words because fishermen from Peru were the first people to notice this change in the sea temperature and weather

　　?tropical – comes from near the equator, hot

　　?cyclones –storm

　　?affected – influenced, these things make our weather change

　　?latitude – distance from the equator

　　?climate – general weather that happens most years

　　?moderate – in the middle, not too hot or cold

　　?extremes – very hot or very cold

　　?force – in a powerful way

　　?moisture – water, rain or snow

　　Note spelling of:

　　?cloudy, cloudier; dry, drier;

　　?wet, wetter; hot, hottest