A cold change is coming and even though it’s short lived it’s going to be a bit of a shock to the system for some areas,  especially those seeing highs towards 30 degrees this past week.

Dunedin is aiming for a high around 19 or 20 degrees today.  On Sunday it will be 14 and Monday and Tuesday highs of 13 – before bouncing back towards 20 on Wednesday then mid 20s by Thursday.

Christchurch and other parts of Canterbury will be in the mid to late 20s today.  By Sunday, after the southerly change, the high will drop by more than 10 degrees from today, heading for 14 degrees.  The next few days afterwards aren’t overly warm or cold, but the hotter weather returns mid-next week. There is one positive for Canterbury – a few showers are expected on Sunday as the colder air comes in.

Further south again and Southland and Invercargill will have a windy, colder, wetter, few days as this system swipes past.  The high on Sunday dips to around 13 with gusty winds and may lower to 12 on Monday.  Southland is currently being affected by the wetter, cooler side to El Nino.

The North Island won’t see such dramatic changes – although some in the east will notice the much cooler weather arriving early next week.

In fact probably the biggest change to the North Island will be some cooler mornings from Monday next week and lower humidity for a short time. Daytime temperatures in northern centres like Auckland will unlikely be affected.

So some cooler weather coming in for some people – with a dusting of snow on the Southern Alps overnight tonight it’s not out of the question that a few New Zealanders on Sunday or Monday may be briefly reaching for the heater…if you do, please let us know (even if you don’t want to admit it!).

– Image / File, Franz Krippner

– WeatherWatch.co.nz