Updated 8:53am — A short and sharp southerly on Thursday will drop daytime highs into the single digits and bring much wanted snow to the ski fields says WeatherWatch.co.nz – but snow fall amounts won’t be huge.

Generally speaking this week still seems mild for mid June but temperatures will slide downwards as the south west changes move in, starting in Southland late today and peaking for most South Island regions across Thursday.  Friday will be fairly cold for North Islanders, especially in the east.

By Thursday a deep low south of New Zealand will work with a high over Australia to dredge up a very cold southerly into the south of both islands.

“Invercargill and Dunedin may only reach 7 or 8 degrees on Thursday with snow as low as 300 or 400 metres” says WeatherWatch.co.nz weather analyst Aaron Wilkinson.

“Snow is expected to fall to to 400m overnight in the Dunedin area”.

But the cold snap is not a nationwide polarblast, despite highs sinking nationwide on Thursday.  Auckland is expected to only reach 14 degrees on Thursday while in Wellington 12 degrees is expected with just a high of 11 on Friday.

WeatherWatch.co.nz says snow is expected on the Desert Road on Thursday night/Friday morning – good news for ski fields which have missed out on lower level snow for a couple of weeks in the North Island. However snowfall amounts aren’t likely to be high.

By Friday more settled weather will be moving in with the coldest air blowing east of New Zealand by the start of the weekend.

– image / File, Alison Metherell

– WeatherWatch.co.nz