By midday, the heaviest of the weather is expected to have moved through, but showers would persist for the remainder of the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do have some thunderstorms expected mostly for the west of the South Island. They\u2019ll be quite squally with some decent gusts and some hail as well,\u201d White said. <\/p>\n
He said there was a chance these thunderstorms could make their way into the likes of the K\u0101piti Coast and western Taranaki.<\/p>\n
A strong southerly change is set to sweep across the country. Photo \/ George Heard<\/p>\n
Severe weather alerts <\/p>\n
Severe weather alerts are currently in place, warning of the potential impacts associated with the wild winds and icy roads.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Coastal Otago is under the same wind watch until 9pm and coastal Southland and southern Fiordland until 3pm.<\/p>\n
A road snowfall warning is in place for the Lewis Pass (SH7) until 10am tomorrow.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u2018Subantarctic\u2019 air, low-level snow <\/p>\n
MetService described the return to cold, wet and windy conditions over the next few days as a \u201cstrong wintry blast\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the time you hit the end of Saturday, pretty much everywhere in New Zealand will have gotten the taste of this cold snap,\u201d White said.<\/p>\n
He said the upcoming spell was in the running for some of the coldest temperatures we\u2019ve had so far this year.<\/p>\n
On Saturday night, Mount Cook is expected to drop to -7C, with widespread frosts for many other places making temperatures drop to zero.<\/p>\n
He said the North Island, including places like Hamilton, Rotorua and Taup\u014d, was looking at -4C.<\/p>\n
White said potential frost was also expected in Auckland.<\/p>\n
MetService said the \u201csubantarctic\u201d air, combined with the wind chill, was likely to make temperatures feel even colder.<\/p>\n
The icy conditions were expected to bring snow down to 200m in the South Island, likely leading to transport and farm disruptions.<\/p>\n
According to a post by the Washington Post\u2019s global weather writer and meteorologist, Ben Noll, the Southern Hemisphere\u2019s \u201csnowiest spot\u201d over the next two weeks was forecast to be Aoraki\/Mount Cook.<\/p>\n
Noll said 340cm of snow over this period was likely.<\/p>\n
Sunday morning was expected to see a return of clearer skies for most of the country and widespread frosts.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking towards the start of the working week, another cold front approaches the country, bringing some more showers for western and southern areas,\u201d MetService said.<\/p>\n