Northwesterly winds ahead of a cold front blew strongly in a number of areas but mainly sunny skies prevailed in the north and east.

A bitterly cold southerly outbreak hit Invercargill late morning, went through Dunedin earlier this afternoon and is expected to pass through Christchurch within the next couple of hours.

A wintry mix of showers, hail,thunder and snow above 500 metres with very strong southwesterlies is on the menu for southern and eastern areas of the mainland tonight and is expected to head further north tomorrow along southern and eastern areas of the North Island, but perhaps not quite so intense.

The highest temperature today was in Napier and Hastings with 24 and the minimum of 12 was shared by Invercargill, Gore, Manapouri and Lake Rotoiti.

Kaitaia : 23
Whangarei : 22
Auckland : 22
Tauranga : 22
Hamilton : 20
Whakatane : 23
Rotorua : 19
Tokoroa : 20
Taupo : 18
Gisborne : 23
New Plymouth : 20
Napier : 24
Hastings : 24
Wanganui : 20
Palmerston North : 19
Levin : 19
Kapiti : 19
Masterton : 21
Wellington : 20
Nelson : 21
Blenheim : 20
Westport : 17
Greymouth : 17
Hokitika : 16
Christchurch : 23
Timaru : 23
Oamaru : 20
Alexandra : 20
Queenstown : 16
Dunedin : 17
Invercargill :12

Bay of Islands : 23
Murchison : 15
Kaikoura : 20
Culverden : 21
Ashburton : 23
Darfield : 22
Lyttelton : 23
Hanmer Springs : 19
Milford Sound : 15
Haast : 15
Gore : 12
Dunedin Airport : 15
Manapouri : 12
Lake Rotoiti : 12
Molesworth : 17