A big storm well south of the country is working with other lows to dredge up an Antarctic southerly on Tuesday that see some snow to low levels in the south and a brief nationwide temperature drop.

The cold front arrives on Tuesday morning but the coldest air comes in on Tuesday night and sea level snow is possible in Milford Sound while a few flurries will make it in to Southland and Otago, possibly down to 100m. However these showers won’t be heavy or accumulate to much. Dunedin City may get a few flurries on Tuesday night too and into Wednesday morning at the peak of this cold snap.

One big positive is that this enormous belt of low pressure is moving eastwards and a large high from Aussie will encourage this cold snap to not only move through fast but it will also push the very coldest of the air to just slightly south of the South Island.  

Single digit highs will affect a number of regions on Tuesday and/or Wednesday. Warmer air from Australia slides in by Wednesday night and spreads nationwide on Thursday.

By the end of Wednesday this enormous area of low pressure – which started back on Saturday with warm heavy rain in the north, will finally ease after the colder southerly portion blows through. 

Refer to your local 10 day forecast at WeatherWatch.co.nz to see how cold it will get at your place – remember WeatherWatch.co.nz exclusively has hourly local NZ temperatures across the next 10 days. Some places have cold air for the next few days ahead, others just have a brief 24 hour period with a temperature drop. The upper North Island is least affected by this cold change.

11PM TUESDAY NIGHT:

NOON WEDNESDAY:

– WeatherWatch.co.nz