A cold change moving through the South Island is bringing snow to several key routes on Tuesday, with more snow, wind and a widespread frost forecast before conditions ease later in the week.
MetService meteorologist Dan Corrigan told 1News a cold change had moved through the lower North Island on Tuesday morning, bringing colder temperatures and brief rain.
"It's gone through Wellington, it looks like it's just going through Masterton at the moment," he said.
"That's bringing significantly colder temperatures and a bit of rain with that, spreading up the North Island throughout today. It's going to be pretty brief rain, it won't be lasting long, and that's quite characteristic of these fast-moving spring weather systems that we often get at this time of year."
Road snowfall warnings were in place across the South Island on Tuesday. Milford Road (SH94) was under a seven-hour warning from 10am to 5pm, with 2 to 4cm of snow forecast about the tunnel entrance and lesser amounts down to 700m.
Crown Range Road faces a six-hour warning from 8pm Tuesday to 2am Wednesday, with 1 to 2cm expected to accumulate above about 500m, while Lewis Pass (SH7) is under warning for seven hours from 9pm Tuesday to 4am Wednesday, with showers forecast to fall as snow above 700m and accumulate 1 to 2cm about the summit.
"The place that's expected to see the strongest winds today is in Invercargill. They're likely to see gales with gusts of up to 90 kilometres per hour this afternoon," Corrigan said.
"Even though it's going to be chilly in terms of the temperature, it's also going to be wind-chilly, if you like."
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Looking further ahead, Corrigan said a widespread frost was forecast for Thursday morning, with Auckland expected to record a low of just 4C.
"Average minimum temperature for a day in late September in Auckland is 10.4, so that's six degrees below that. It will feel notably cold."
Corrigan said most of the South Island would see frost that morning, with only Northland and cloud-affected areas such as Wellington likely to escape it, before the next system moves in from the Tasman Sea on Friday.
"It won't be long until the next lot of weather arrives on Friday," he said.
"In springtime, these things tend to move quicker through, so the periods where it's settled don't tend to last as long."
Full list of weather warnings and watches
Road Snowfall Warnings
Desert Rd (SH1)- 8 hours from 9am to 5pm Wednesday
Lewis Pass (SH7) - 7 hours from 9pm Tuesday to 4am Wednesday
Crown Range Rd - 6 hours from 8pm Tuesday to 2am Wednesday
Milford Rd (SH94) - expires at 5pm today.
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