Jack Frost chills out in Northland

Jimmy Parker wipes off frost from vehicles for sale in Allkars yard in Whangarei. Photo/Michael Cunningham

Sub-zero temperatures resulted in frost in most parts of Northland yesterday morning but weather boffins say the worst is over - until the end of this week at least.

Dargaville and surrounding areas were the hardest hit, with temperatures dropping into minus figures and residents waking to white lawns and having to scrape ice from their windscreens before heading to work.

MetService forecaster John Law said high pressure, dry weather and clear skies on Tuesday night formed the perfect combination for the formation of frost.

He said the 2.5C recorded in Whangarei was the lowest May temperature since at least 1990 while 2.8C in Kerikeri had not been recorded there since 1989.

MetService recorded the lowest temperature in Northland of 0.1C at the Bay of Islands but Mr Law said some areas could have been colder.

"You often get frosts once or twice a year but this was a bit early." The conditions prior to yesterday morning were just right for that to occur.

However, he said temperatures would start to pick up from now on as a result of cloud, showers and south-easterlies heading into the weekend.

Horticulturist Kathryn Blanchard of Poroti recorded a low of -5.5C overnight Tuesday from a thermometer situated two metres off the ground.

Fruit was burned. "A lot of them dropped off the trees. In the last five years, temperatures here have gone down to minus six in June and I think it could get much colder," she said.

Parts of the Bay of Islands were also touched by frost yesterday in the first cold snap of the year.

Alan Hayes, who operates the Kerikeri Weather Station, recorded a low of 3.9C at 6am yesterday, slightly colder than Tuesday's minimum 4.1C at 7am.

His property just outside town escaped the frost but other residents did not.

Mr Hayes said official temperature readings were taken at 1.5m above the ground. The temperature at ground level was lower.

Kaikohe, with its higher elevation, is often chillier than Kerikeri on a clear night but that has not been the case in recent days.

According to MetService figures, Kerikeri recorded 3C at 6am yesterday and Kaikohe 5C.

Forecasters were expecting temperatures to rise overnight with a relatively balmy 9C predicted for Kerikeri at 6am this morning and 13C at the same time on Friday.

Kaikohe can look forward to 11C and 14C, respectively.

Bitter cold accompanied by frosts caught Northlanders by surprise yesterday morning. But that didn't deter our readers from snapping photos of their frosty fields, flowers and waterways.