Across New Zealand there is one thing people have noticed about Thursday – it was much colder than it was a few days ago. With much of 2016 being warmer than average these cold snaps feel worse than they really are.

But don’t get us wrong, Thursday was certainly cold. Snow fell in Wellington City and parts of Auckland had a feels like temperature of +1 at midday with sleet on the Waitakere Ranges reported.

Further south in Waikato snow fell on Mt Pirongia and a biting wind chill has been blowing through and over into Bay of Plenty. Skies are now dry for the most part in these areas with Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa shouldering the wintry southerly blast.

Taranaki has had sleet and hail and the showers are cutting through Cook Strait and into Wanganui too.

Some snow has been reported in Masterton today.

Parts of inland Hawke’s Bay had wind chills below -2 this afternoon and in the South Island it was colder still. -17 windchill through alpine areas and -12 windchill on Banks Peninsula.

But a high is coming and winds will ease in the South Island overnight and into Friday – and ease further into the North Island by Friday night.

Most of this dramatic weather today is being caused by a large high – you can see the wind flow below, and how the high dips right down into the sub-Antarctic zone, then rushes up to New Zealand, helped by a low to the east of the country – making for a cold southerly today:

– WeatherWatch.co.nz