The region has woken up to its coldest day of the year so far.
The lowest temperature recorded in the Bay of Plenty overnight was at Galatea, dropping to a frigid 1.8C.
Rotorua dipped to 2.8C overnight, while Whakatāne dropped to 3.4C.
It was slightly warmer in Tauranga at 7.3C and Taupō at 7.5C.
MetService meteorologist Andrew James said while it was certainly cold in the Bay this morning, none of the areas cracked the top five coldest March temperatures.
James said a weather system had been moving up the country over the last couple of days, pushing cold air further north.
“That has seen temperatures tumble right across the nation - with the cold being felt as far north as the likes of Kaitaia, where it’s only 6C at the moment,” he said just after 6am.
“For today and tomorrow expect cold and clear weather across the Bay of Plenty,” James said.
“Cloud pushes in on Friday evening and then a rainy day on Saturday.”
MetService meteorologist Clare O’Connor said the area of low pressure that was causing this cold snap was expected to spin out east of the country as the weekend began meaning the temperatures would settle back down to seasonal norms by next week.
Auckland recorded one of its coldest nights since March 1965 dropping to 5.3C in Whenuapai.
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