A taste of winter is coming this weekend and for some in the deep south they’ve already experienced hail and sleet in the past day or two.

An incoming southerly change on Sunday will dramatically hack daytime highs across southern and eastern areas of both islands – while also dropping temperatures as far north as Northland.

“This is coming from a sizeable storm in the Southern Ocean, which will remain south of the country, but the squash zone between this powerful low in the south and the strong high in the north will push gales and rain into southern parts of both islands this weekend” says WeatherWatch.co.nz head weather analyst Philip Duncan.

The low will churn south of New Zealand well until next week, with the coldest of the weather moving northwards across Sunday and Monday.

“Invercargill will go from highs around 12 or 13 to highs of 7 and 8 this coming Sunday and Monday. The wind chill factor will certainly feel below zero in exposed places” says Mr Duncan.

Dunedin will drop from around 14 degrees today, Friday, to a high of only 9 degrees on Monday.

Further north and Christchurch heads up to 19 degrees for Friday, then 13 for Sunday and only 11 on Monday with frosts possible overnight Monday and into Tuesday.

Wellington will slide from highs around 16 degrees to a high of 11 on Monday with southerlies.

WeatherWatch.co.nz says northern centres, such as Hamilton, Auckland, Whangarei and Tauranga, are unlikely to be as dramatically affected by the colder air change like the centres further south.  Highs will slide a degree or two by Monday and Tuesday but the bulk of the cold snap will be south of Wellington.  

Winds, however, may be a little chilly for Monday across northern areas, but a high over the Tasman is expected to move in for Tuesday for the North Island settling things down and bringing a risk of frost and perhaps a little fog for Tuesday and Wednesday – while southerners see warmer westerlies returning, becoming strong again by Wednesday.

– WeatherWatch.co.nz