There is good news from MetService Thursday afternoon - despite the risk of more severe weather warnings being issued over the next day or two, the severe weather is shifting further south.   That means the violent weather of the past week is sinking back into the Southern Ocean and away from New Zealand.

Obviously the South Island will see the rough weather lingering a little longer than their North Island farming neighbours but either way it's a positive sign of change.

Also, conditions will start to warm up everywhere - that's right, EVERYwhere over the next two days.  Already in the North Island the winds have started to ease back a bit in northern areas.  It's still windy as all get out for many of us but compared to previous days, it's not as bad.

The spring equinox officially kicked in at 3:07pm on Thursday - which is the green light for summer to roll on in...albeit slowly.

During this transition time from winter into summer we can expect more stormy weather, but the hope is this storm was a one-off freak event - and will not be repeated this year.  Certainly we can all agree on that being an ideal forecast.

The long range forecast for the next week or so shows more nor'westers and higher air pressure.  The higher air pressure will put a stop to those damaging squalls and will also help protect us from the stormy roaring 40s that cross the Southern Ocean.

Like I said there are more warnings likely to be issued, but as I said the other night on TV, it's likely the gales will only brush the Southland coast

- the worst, I believe, is now behind us.