"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.
