It's Cold In Tokoroa

So, Carrie and I knew that when we left the warm summer of DC in August we were headed to the Southern Hemisphere and therefore we would be entering the end of winter. We prepared ourselves for this fact while at the same time taking comfort in the idea that we would be moving from winter to spring not too long after we arrived. Our first 2 or 3 months moved ahead as we expected. We were cold in Christchurch but there were also very nice days. Then we went further South to Waimate and then on to Dunedin. During this time the temperatures continued to move in the direction of summer and we were happy. After several weeks in Dunedin most days were nice but we still had the occasional cold one here and there. We figured we would fast forward spring by going ahead and getting closer to the equator.

We moved about 1000 kilometers North and we figured we were set. What we didn't know was that Tokoroa is cold. Somehow, despite the additional Northward kilometers we had managed to make the world colder. The best we can tell, the weather in Tokoroa is cold and overcast most days but clears in the evenings so that none of the radiant heat is trapped by the cloud cover. Its cold. We figured this was just a temporary state of affairs but as time has passed we began to assume that it would be like this forever. Perhaps the Coriolis Effect weirds things out in the Southern Hemisphere so that further from the equator means warmer.

We tested this theory last week when we drove a bit further North. Our hypothesis was disproved. Now we have a new hypothesis: Tokoroa is cold.