{"id":609011,"date":"2026-09-23T08:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T08:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/609011\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T08:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T08:04:10","slug":"late-season-frosts-to-send-much-of-north-island-below-zero-overnight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/609011\/","title":{"rendered":"Late-season frosts to send much of North Island below zero overnight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Much of the North Island will drop below freezing overnight with Taup\u014d forecast to hit -4C as a blast of cold southern air brings unseasonable frosts just hours after the spring equinox.<\/p>\n

The equinox, which fell today, marks the point when day and night are roughly equal in length, but a blast of cold southern air means the season will start with frosts.<\/p>\n

MetService forecaster Chelsea Glue said the North Island would bear the brunt of the cold tonight.<\/p>\n

“We’re going for below-zero temperatures for many places in the North Island tonight, frosty conditions,” she told 1News.<\/p>\n

Taumarunui was forecast to plunge to -4C, Rotorua to -2C while Hamilton and Whak\u0101tane both hit -1C. Parts of Auckland were expected to get down to 3C.<\/p>\n

Glue said the temperatures were “quite cold for this time of year” for the North Island.<\/p>\n

“Normally [they’re] starting to get a little bit warmer this time of year, but a few late-season frosts are still in the cards for them.”<\/p>\n

Glue said a cold change moved up the country today, bringing southerly winds and a colder air mass from the south.<\/p>\n

“As the rain and the cloud starts to clear away to the north, we’re left with clear skies and that allows for temperatures to drop overnight.”<\/p>\n

\"MetService<\/p>\n

MetService said a cold change moved up the country today, bringing southerly winds and a colder air mass from the south. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Cold air from the south<\/p>\n

In the South Island, Christchurch is forecast to reach -2C and Blenheim -1C.<\/p>\n

“They’re probably a little bit more used to the colder temperatures down there, so it’s not quite so unseasonable for them,” Glue said.<\/p>\n

Nelson is expected to fall to 1C, which Glue said was “pretty chilly” for the region.<\/p>\n

“Just when you’re starting to think you’re getting into fruit-growing season, you’ve got to be mindful of these frosts coming in.”<\/p>\n

Heavy showers and lightning strikes had been recorded offshore today, but MetService expects them to ease tonight.<\/p>\n

Glue said many places would see fine, clear skies tomorrow, although showers would linger in parts of the far south.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Much of the North Island will drop below freezing overnight with Taup\u014d forecast to hit -4C as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,158,1080,12506,9001,20277,31044,91,111,43,139,69,15488,16715,2224,1756,3393,52,1241],"class_list":["post-609011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-auckland","tag-christchurch-canterbury","tag-dunedin-otago","tag-gisborne","tag-hamilton-waikato","tag-hawke-s-bay","tag-manawatu-wanganui","tag-nelson","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-southland","tag-taranaki","tag-tasman","tag-tauranga-bay-of-plenty","tag-weather-news","tag-wellington","tag-west-coast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}