What has been warm temperatures for the South Island will get replaced tonight and tomorrow by cold south to southwesterly winds as winter bites back. This is evident in the blue shaded areas below for Southland and Otago.

Tonight’s coldest overnight lows go to Central Otago getting down to 1 or 2 degrees meanwhile Wellington based on the map below is the warmest on 13. There is a chance however somewhere like Kaikoura or Blenheim may actually get the warmest overnight lows as a warm pre frontal northwesterly will be blowing ahead of a cold front due on Tuesday morning.

Cold southerlies are evident in the below map with the blue colour creeping northwards along the eastern side of the South Island. Then on the flip side we see warm northwesterlies ahead of this front especially for eastern regions Marlborough northwards. It will turn cold about Marlborough from midday however as southwesterlies move in.

The warmest day time highs will likely be for the eastern North Island with highs in the early twenties. The coldest temperatures will be about Otago and Southland ranging between 7 and 10 degrees.

By Weather Analyst Aaron Wilkinson – WeatherWatch.co.nz