Temperatures have plummeted around the country today as rare "thunder snow" was spotted in the deep south.
With snow forecast down to sea level for Southland, Otago, and Canterbury many Kiwis have been out capturing a late spring snow dump with their cameras.
MetService has also noted an "uncommon" phenomena of "thunder snow" has been spotted on Southland rain radars.
"Yes, thundersnow is a thing but it is relatively uncommon around our shores," the forecaster said this afternoon.
"It's likely that the thunderstorms which sparked the lightning were also producing other types of icy precipitation mixed in with the snow."
MetService says the "relatively" warm waters around the coast help to produce the thunderstorms.
"This is just further proof of how cold this polar air mass is."
Further north, Metlink is urging commuters to "stay alert" as the polar blast reaches Wellington in full force tonight.
“At this stage only train replacement buses from the Wairarapa have been confirmed as cancelled, however this event has the possibility to impact our wider services across bus, ferry and rail,” says Metlink acting general manager Tim Shackleton.
Metlink warns the situation could "change quite rapidly" as temperatures fall further.
MetService has forecast snow could fall down to 200 metres in Wellington tonight, with rain also settling in.
The overnight low there is a chilly 2 degrees Celsius.
In Christchurch, the overnight low is even lower at -1 degrees.
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