Weather: Cold snap to bring road snowfall warnings and sub-zero temperatures to North Island
A bitterly cold blast bringing snow and sub-zero temperatures is set to sweep across the country, with Auckland expected to plunge to 4C.
MetService said multiple road snowfall warnings were also in force across both islands as freezing conditions swept the country.
The forecaster said there were “three distinctive cold changes” this week, ultimately leading to a frosty start on Thursday morning.
Just a day out from the spring equinox, MetService meteorologist Alwyn Bakker told the Herald this week’s chilly weather would kick off from tonight.
“There’s already some negative temperatures going to be showing up tonight.”
Twizel is expected to drop to -3C overnight and Milford Sound -1C. In the North Island, the mercury would fall to 1C in Masterton and 2C in Waiōuru overnight.
“Tomorrow is when it gets genuinely cold across a lot of the country, Wednesday night into Thursday night,” Bakker said.
He said widespread frosts could stretch right up to Coromandel, with Hamilton hitting -1C, Tokoroa -3C and Taumarunui -4C.
Bakker said it would not be quite as cold in the South Island tomorrow because most of the cold air would have moved off, but many would still experience negative temperatures.
“We’ve got this big kind of southwesterly flow over the country, which is dragging up a whole bunch of cold air from down south and it’s washing across the whole country, being pushed by a couple of fronts,” he said.
Bakker said a big ridge of high pressure was sitting in the Tasman Sea that was gradually “sneaking its way across”.
“That’s going to be helping contribute to clearer skies, which will also help with those cooler temperatures.”
Bakker said the dip in temperatures was “normally abnormal” for this time of year.
“When we’re in the start of spring, stuff can get quite changeable. We’re kind of going between the wintry weather and the summery weather ... so you get these kind of pulses of cold.”
He said the warmer weather we have had recently would make this snap feel “a heck of a lot worse”.
The bone-chilling cold was likely to remain for Thursday night into Friday.
Road snowfall warnings
MetService has issued a road snowfall warning for the Desert Road from 9am to 5pm tomorrow.
Snow showers lowering to about 800m are expected.
Lewis Pass is also under the same warning from 9pm until the early hours of tomorrow.
MetService said the Crown Range Rd was also under the same warning.
Bakker said the agency did not have any other severe weather forecast until Sunday.
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