The long weekend is here and with it comes the official start of winter on the meteorological calendar.

The weather pattern is wintry today in the southern part of NZ as the main pulse of cold air moves in today, then gradually retreats back southwards over the long weekend, with milder westerlies returning to the south by Monday.

Western regions of both islands have windier weather off the Tasman Sea and that brings showers all along the western coastline this long weekend.

Driest and mildest weather will be at the very top and eastern sides of NZ.

Next week another large low may bring more rain, thunder and wind – followed by a wintry change end of next week (not yet locked in but showing up for days in long range models).