High pressure still covers NZ but that will slide offshore as we go into Friday and the weekend as a polar southerly change arrives. Snow levels continue to move around, but early estimates suggest snow may fall below 200m for a time in the lower South Island (Southland and Otago) and in the North Island may get down to 600m around Central Plateau – but it’s worth noting that wind directions matter and some areas may have a low snow level but dry skies along with it.

Central Plateau looks to get snow on the highways, along with the South Island’s alpine passes – and other South Island highways may be impacted..

Over the next 7 days western areas will get the bulk of the rain and showers, along with Southland. Eastern areas, generally speaking, don’t have a lot of wet weather although showers may spillover from the west.

We break down the forecast between now and Monday – and will update you again tomorrow Wednesday with the latest. (we do expect some further changes to the forecast going into the weekend).