How much longer until spring? Well, that depends

While many Kiwis will be looking forward to shedding their heavy winter coats and embracing the sunny days ahead, when exactly spring begins depends on who you ask.

The start of meteorological spring is just under two weeks away, on September 1. But the extra daylight hours we typically associate with the season, the spring equinox – which marks the start of astronomical spring – is another three weeks later, on September 23.

"The spring equinox is when the sun passes directly over the equator, which results in our days and nights being roughly equal in length," MetService says.

So, how much longer can we expect our daylight hours to be by the time we reach the spring equinox?

The South Island will be basking in the warm glow of spring the longest, with Invercargill clocking in an extra two hours, followed by Christchurch with an hour and 40 minutes.

For those in the North Island wanting to work on their tan, Wellington will receive an extra hour and 32 minutes, while Auckland lags behind with an extra hour and 19 minutes.

Daylight saving starts four days after the spring equinox at 2am on Sunday, September 27, with clocks moving forward one hour.

MetService said much of the country will continue to have cool temperatures with some frosts and isolated showers over the rest of the week.

By Friday, the east of the North Island will be mostly fine with isolated showers developing elsewhere. The South Island will have isolated showers in the west, turning to rain in Fiordland, with scattered falls in Southland later.

On Saturday, the isolated showers will be widespread in the west and south of the North Island with north-westerlies rising to gale in the south of the island. The South Island will have rain on Saturday with heavy falls in Fiordland, spreading northwards. North-westerlies will also rise to gale in the south.

By Sunday, the rain will become heavier across much of the motu,, with stronger winds and snow possible to 600 metres and gale southwesterlies in the south.