Tale of two halves this weekend in Hawke's Bay

It is set to be a cold end to June for the region. Photo / Paul Taylor

The weekend will be a tale of two halves, as dry and sunny conditions today are replaced by cloudier skies and rain tomorrow.

However, there is no disputing it will be a cold end to June with frosty conditions forecast for much of the country this morning.

"The weekend is going to start pretty much the same as the last several days have been, with settled weather over Hawke's Bay," MetService meteorologist Angus Hines said.

But the clear skies and settled weather come at a price - cold and frosty nights.

MetService meteorologist John Law explained that while the clear skies during the day mean we are set to see plenty of dry and sunny weather, by night they are the perfect conditions to see temperatures quickly dropping away.

Temperatures are likely to be at their coldest overnight from Friday into Saturday, forecast to widely drop below freezing across both the North and South Island.

"It'll be a chilly start to the weekend," said Law. "With more frost in the forecasts, it'll will be worth taking extra care on the roads."

Last night it was expected to drop to -1C overnight. It will only slightly increase to 1C this evening.

Hines said, "Tomorrow we will have a little bit of a change. It will be another nice morning then through the afternoon it will get a little bit cloudier, as a front moves up the country and over the North Island tomorrow."

He said by tomorrow evening there could be scattered rain across the region.

"Those north to north-west winds will be a bit more noticeable than what's been relatively calm over the last few days."

With winds returning to the north overnight temperatures should be a few degrees warmer, Hines said.

A high of 15C and a low of 6C is expected tomorrow.

"It's been cold but not record setting temperatures."

It is all set to clear away on Monday, with a relatively fine week ahead.

"The front will move away to the east of the country, the north-westerlies will turn towards the south west and we will start another period of reasonably settled weather towards the start of next week," Hines said.