Queen’s Birthday Weekend it seems will escape any severe weather but hot on the heels of it the weather is set to turn pear-shaped.

A biting southerly is set to make its way across the South Island on Tuesday and overnight Tuesday and into Wedneday with rain along the West Coast delivering some localised heavy downpours and a polar southerly over southern and eastern districts of the Mainland should see the first decent snow of the season.

Low level snow is likely however whether is makes it to sea level is still up for debate.

“The air certainly looks very cold but whether it’s enough for Dunedin, Christchurch and Timaru to see a coating is a 50/50 call,” says weather analyst Richard Green.” There’s no doubt that inland areas could cop a pasting especially about the foothills but coastal areas may see flurries from time to time, though whether it settles is still a big call” Green says.

Temperatures will fall below zero when the windchill is taken into account and daytime highs late on Tuesday and over Wednesday aren’t expected to climb much more than six or seven degrees from Kaikoura down to Invercargill.

“It’s certainly going to feel very fresh indeed and the first real strike of winter has hit in its first week” according to Richard Green

The bleak change isn’t expected to hang around for very long across the south however rain across the North Island is expected throughout part of Tuesday, into Wednesday and some of Thursday.

Story and pic by R.Green