It was frosty for some in the South Island this morning while heavy rain affected Northland thanks to a sub-tropical low.

As we head into Friday and Saturday high pressure will be dominating in most places, but with the high centred to the east of New Zealand and a very big low in the Southern Ocean it’s the perfect recipe for windy westerlies – infant mild, windy, nor’westers.

The airflow by Sunday will be partially sub-tropical and partially from the Australia interior and this will extend into Monday and early next week too.

These winds may reach gale to severe gale in some eastern and central areas in the coming days.

No matter how you look at it, it appears we’re entering a spring-like period of weather right in the depths of winter.