Rains are set to “soak the country” this coming winter with the first sub-zero temperatures expected on November 1, weather guru Ken Ring has predicted.

As drought conditions continue to prevail nationwide – with limited signs of the month’s rain needed to salvage crops and fodder supplies for the seasons ahead – the long-range Kiwi weatherman offers his outlook for the back end of the year.

Ring, who terms his unscientific methods of prediction as “alternative weather”, cautioned that the incoming crisp winter could continue until May 2019.

November will be a chilly month with single-digit minimums; the first subzero minimum will be in the south-west around November 1.

“Rains will soak the country until Christmas, and snow will arrive after Christmas,” Ring told AgriLand.

Washouts

The Auckland native – who asserts that he can use lunar cycles to predict weather and earthquakes – expects that snow will continue throughout January 2019. He said that “downpours” are due to arrive “on or near” January 12 and January 31.

“The last part of January will be dry and freezing. Heavy rains will come again around February 16 and February 18 with many floods and washouts,” he said.

The onslaught may continue to February, with the next big rain not until the third week in March.

The author – who publishes almanacs each year for New Zealand, Australia and Ireland in which he provides weather predictions for the entire year – claims that winter 2018/2019 may be “cooler for longer“.

“The cold will continue until May 2019 which will see the last of winter frosts and some dry weather – but it will be cool.

“It may be said that the coming 2018/19 winter will be cooler than the summer is hot. The reason is that we are getting ever closer to a solar minimum, in 2020, which means cooler winters for a couple of years,” he concluded.