Your weather: Wet, windy, cold start to the school holidays

There is a wet and chilly forecast for the start of the school holidays. File photo / Doug Sherring

Put away the school uniforms, but bring out the brollies and winter woollies and brace yourself for a bleak weather start to the school holidays.

From severe frosts in the south to severe gales and rain in the north, no one in New Zealand seems to be spared from the wet and wild of winter.

MetService has issued a snow warning with up to 2cm of show to settle on roads above 700m on the Lindis Pass and Crown Range Rd between Monday afternoon and early evening. Rain is also expected to turn to snow on Milford Rd near the tunnel.

A high pressure is expanding across the country, WeatherWatch says, and the upper North Island has low pressure moving in with a windy "squash zone" of air pressure creating gales, especially in coastal parts of the north and north east.

Severe frosts are in the forecast for inland South Island tonight with temperatures dropping to between -5C and -12C in highland areas.

"It's severe gales that are expected offshore from Northland and Auckland overnight tonight and across Monday," said Phil Duncan, head weather analyst at WeatherWatch.

For the north, Monday would be the main day for windy weather.

The windiest weather will be in eastern Northland and northern Auckland along the eastern coastline.

Aucklanders are asked to brace themselves for possible gales for a time tomorrow; Great Barrier Island is most exposed.

Most of the country will be experiencing wet weather. File photo / Paul Taylor

The gusty winds and gales will then move on later in the day to East Cape, Gisborne and eastern Bay of Plenty.

"Temperatures also drop today in the eastern North Island, setting off a colder few days ahead for places like Hawke's Bay," Duncan said.

The chill will be felt across the country in the first few days of the school holidays, as colder than normal temperatures for this time of the year are anticipated.

MetService forecaster Aidan Pyselman said Gisborne and other areas of North Island should expect rain tomorrow and Tuesday.

By Wednesday, developing northwesterlies would bring heavy rain for Fiordland which could move north up the west coast during Thursday.