Plenty of people are talking about the colder weather today and it’s not surprising.  Aucklanders, ducking frequent showers, are also enduring a wind chill of around 9 or 10 degrees as a sou’wester blows straight off the Tasman Sea.  Head weather analyst Philip Duncan says even colder conditions are on the way tonight but things will improve soon.  “We’ve had several cold fronts this week and each one has brought even cooler air with it.  What appears to be the last front is now moving up the South Island and will reach Wellington later this afternoon”.

Duncan says cold air behind it has already seen temperatures drop to 8 degrees in Invercargill and Dunedin and down to 5 and 6 further inland.

The winds are also strong around New Zealand near gale force in exposed parts of coastal Auckland and gusting to 80km/h in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin.

The strong winds are expected to ease overnight and that could mean light frosts possible for central New Zealand.  “We certainly don’t expect any heavy frosts but grape growers might want to be on alert to undergo frost protection early tomorrow morning.  However we think any frosts will be light and mainly ground frosts”.

Conditions should begin to improve tomorrow with warm nor’westers returning to the east coast of both islands as the day progresses.  “We’ll again see temperatures into the late teens for these areas”.

However Waikato and Auckland should still stay quite chilly with sou’westers and coastal showers continuing.    Conditions for tomorrow’s nights rugby game between Waikato and Taranaki at Waikato stadium should be dry but it will also be cold.  “A wind chill of just 7 or 8 degrees and partly clear skies coupled with a breezy sou’wester is the current forecast”. 

International gold medal winning chorus, the Waikato Rivertones, will also be performing at 6:30pm before the game singing the Waikato’s famous ‘Moo Loo’ song  “Definitely bring a jacket or jersey to keep warm for the game or if you’re going early to watch the Rivertones sing – despite the sun still being up it’s expected to be quite cold due to that wind”.