Wednesday marks the beginning of a cold burst of air in the South Island with snow, hail and gusty winds says WeatherWatch.co.nz.  Temperatures across Southland will struggle to reach double digits with Invercargill’s high just 10 or 11 during Wednesday. 

Dunedin and other South Island centres along the east coast will feel the colder weather arrive later in Wednesday and early Thursday.  Highs aren’t likely to rise above 16 degrees in the South Island’s warmest place on Thursday, Blenheim.  Most other centres further south will only reach between 11 and 14 degrees.

Snow is likely about some alpine roads as low down as 500 metres according to MetService.

In the North Island Wednesday sees a weak cold front moving over and the Weather Watch Centre says it will deliver little in the way of rain for dry farms across Wairarapa, Hawkes Bay and Gisborne.  April is proving to be a dry month for many farming regions.

The cold weather will arrive in the North Island on Thursday and Friday with temperatures falling from the lower 20s to the mid teens. 

WeatherWatch.co.nz’s independent long range forecasts says the weather for Easter remains the same with a large high set to move in from the Tasman Sean bringing sunny, dry, weather to the east and north of the North Island and settled weather spreading almost everywhere by Saturday.

Are you in the firing line of the cold stuff today?  Post a comment below and let us know conditions where you are.