By midday, the heaviest of the weather is expected to have moved through, but showers would persist for the remainder of the day.
“We do have some thunderstorms expected mostly for the west of the South Island. They’ll be quite squally with some decent gusts and some hail as well,” White said.
He said there was a chance these thunderstorms could make their way into the likes of the Kāpiti Coast and western Taranaki.
A strong southerly change is set to sweep across the country. Photo / George Heard
Severe weather alerts
Severe weather alerts are currently in place, warning of the potential impacts associated with the wild winds and icy roads.
A strong wind watch is in place for Christchurch and Banks Peninsula as well as the Canterbury Plains about and east of Lincoln until midnight.
Coastal Otago is under the same wind watch until 9pm and coastal Southland and southern Fiordland until 3pm.
A road snowfall warning is in place for the Lewis Pass (SH7) until 10am tomorrow.
The same snowfall warning has been issued for Arthurs Pass (SH73) until 4pm this afternoon, Milford Road (SH94) until 6pm, and Crown Range Rd until midnight.
‘Subantarctic’ air, low-level snow
MetService described the return to cold, wet and windy conditions over the next few days as a “strong wintry blast”.
“By the time you hit the end of Saturday, pretty much everywhere in New Zealand will have gotten the taste of this cold snap,” White said.
He said the upcoming spell was in the running for some of the coldest temperatures we’ve had so far this year.
On Saturday night, Mount Cook is expected to drop to -7C, with widespread frosts for many other places making temperatures drop to zero.
He said the North Island, including places like Hamilton, Rotorua and Taupō, was looking at -4C.
White said potential frost was also expected in Auckland.
MetService said the “subantarctic” air, combined with the wind chill, was likely to make temperatures feel even colder.
The icy conditions were expected to bring snow down to 200m in the South Island, likely leading to transport and farm disruptions.
According to a post by the Washington Post’s global weather writer and meteorologist, Ben Noll, the Southern Hemisphere’s “snowiest spot” over the next two weeks was forecast to be Aoraki/Mount Cook.
Noll said 340cm of snow over this period was likely.
Sunday morning was expected to see a return of clearer skies for most of the country and widespread frosts.
“Looking towards the start of the working week, another cold front approaches the country, bringing some more showers for western and southern areas,” MetService said.
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