National News

A cold snap is today rushing up the country with temperatures falling fast behind it.

At 11:45 Christchurch had a mild 11 degrees with a north easterly while just further south in Timaru the southerly had hit and temperatures have dropped to only 6 degrees.

A storm moving in from Melbourne looks set to bring a rough end to the weekend and start to the working week with severe gales and heavy rain.

A large low, which developed over southern Australia overnight, will push out into the Tasman Sea during Saturday, then track south of New Zealand on Sunday and Monday.

A south westerly flow is going to spread across New Zealand ahead of milder and stronger nor'westers during the weekend.

The change in wind direction will mean showery and cool conditions in southern and western regions of both islands but should see fairly dry, sunny and mild conditions for those in the east.

Conditions are being described as 'the perfect start to spring' by WeatherWatch.co.nz readers today as sunny, mild, weather kicks in across much of the country.

On Monday WeatherWatch.co.nz reported that computer models at the time were forecasting a sunny weekend for everyone... so did we jinx things but running that story?  Yes.  Quite possibly for some!

Most New Zealanders are in for a good day of weather today with light winds and mostly clear skies - however Hastings, Napier and Gisborne may not be quite so lucky as a low continues to linger off the east coast.

Today is the first day of spring and most main centres should see mostly sunny, calm, weather as higher air pressure squeezes over the country. 

NZHerald.co.nz

As we come to the end of winter I'm astounded to write that we have not had one single national Antarctic blast this whole winter.

It wasn't until May that the first snow fell across the South Island ski slopes and some were late opening due to lack of the white stuff.

The lack of snow was due to the fact that New Zealand suffered through a dry summer and autumn with constant highs holding firm over the South Island - a pattern that has remained, to some degree, all year.

To some of you this story may be considered a jinx - but the current computer models and the latest weather data say that the upcoming weekend may be a sunny and dry one.

WeatherWatch.co.nz says that a large high building over the northern Tasman Sea should mean settled, mild, weather for most however the high won't completely cover New Zealand - allowing a weak spot along the east coast.

Topsy turvy is a good saying to sum up late winter/early spring weather - and that's certainly the weather we're going to be seeing this week across New Zealand.

As a low that spent a number of days building strength in the Tasman Sea heads out into the Pacific Ocean today it leaves behind an erratic weather pattern.

A low that created dozens of thunderstorms over the North Island this weekend, highs up to 20 degrees and a large hail storm in Tauranga is this morning crossing the North Island and will lie off the Gisborne coast later today before stalling.