Widespread frosts affected a number of regions overnight as temperatures had a chance to fully drop with the lack of wind and cloud.

As we predicted yesterday inland parts of the lower South Island saw the heaviest frosts.

Temperatures fell to -9 in Twizel, -6 in Lumsden and -5 in Queenstown and Blenheim.  -3 was recorded in Dunedin, Timaru and Christchurch – but felt significantly colder.

Image / A frost at Barry Curtis park in Auckland this morning / Tim Hazell

It was cold in the north too with Waikato dropping below -3 and one WeatherWatch.co.nz reader said temperatures fell to -5.3 in Owhango, King Country, this morning.

Auckland received frosty conditions across the city too as the skies temporarily cleared overnight.  This morning high cloud from a small disturbance north of New Zealand is limiting the sun’s ability to warm the city up following the cold start – and it’s a similar story in Northland too.

Not everyone had a frost – some parts of Wellington had 8 degrees and showers/drizzle this morning at 7am and some of this moisture made it over the hills to Paekakariki – stopping frosts from forming there too, despite frosts further up the Kapiti Coast.

– WeatherWatch.co.nz