Once more much of the mainland is waking up to a very frosty start, with both coastal and inland areas seeing temperatures plunge well below zero.

Christchurch and Dunedin are seeing the mercury nudge minus 4 degrees. Gore and Invercargill minus 2, Queenstown minus 5 and minus 9 is the current temperature in one or two isolated inland Central Otago valleys and basins.

Motorists are warned again this morning to be wary of icy patches on a number of roads and to reduce speed as a result. 

The icy grip has seen inland areas particularly hit hard in recent weeks and yesterday it wasn’t Alexandra but Gore struggling to get above zero.

Temperatures are expected to remain cold to very cold through much of the east and south of the island today, with a southerly expected to freshen in the far south, bringing a few showers with snow to relatively low levels.

Weather Analyst Richard Green