Expect mild weather to stay over May | Canterbury News | Local News in Canterbury

Reg Haines says the biggest downside to the warm, dry autumn weather is having to water his garden so often.

The Bishopdale 84-year-old gardening enthusiast said he left the sprinkler on for an hour every second night to keep things growing. And it looks set to continue.

After basking in the second hottest April on record, Cantabrians can look forward to mild weather until the end of May and there will be little rain, said Weatherwatch.co.nz head weather analyst Philip Duncan.

"We expect rainfall to be fairly low for the next few weeks.

"Autumn is looking like it's going to end on a warm, settled note," he said.

During the day, expect temperatures between 15 and 17C, and although overnight lows may briefly drop to zero, they will typically be in the single digit range, said Mr Duncan.

While Mr Haines was grateful for the mild temperatures, he said his garden was missing the rainfall.

"It's pretty good, but the ground's very dry - we could do with a good downpour."

Despite a dismal summer, Christchurch has dominated other parts of the country since April with unusually high temperatures.

Several days were recorded as over 20 degrees, with five of those higher than 25 degrees.

Mr Duncan said this was partly due to highs over the North Island acting as a "big brother" by buffering winter storms from reaching the South Island. This could change by the end of May, with Christchurch becoming more vulnerable to southern storms.

But temperatures would be "nothing compared to the bitter southerlies like you've opened your freezer door," said Mr Duncan.

In general, residents could expect a gradual decline from autumn into winter as the summer warmth continued to linger.

"While the rest of the country is dropping, Canterbury is bucking the trend."