Time to say goodbye to Jack Frost

This mini ice rink was captured at Kaiwaka on Sunday.

No more shivering mornings in Northland - at least until early next week - as rain and northeast winds are set to replace icy temperatures experienced over the past few days.

MetService said a front approaching from the Tasman Sea was expected to reach the country late today and move east over New Zealand tomorrow that should push daytime temperatures in Northland to about 16C and between 9C and 12C during the night.

Trinda Beckham Steen captured this image of Jack Frost's icy fingers spreading over the roof of a car in Kaitaia.

Sunday morning was the coldest day of the year with the official temperature dropping to 0C in Kaitaia and 0.8C at Whangarei Airport, while Kerikeri recorded 1.3C.

MetService meteorologist John Law said the coldest temperature on record at Whangarei Airport was -0.1C in 1994.

Seven-year-old Kailyn Rapana is surrounded by frost near Moerewa.

Sunday evening was the coldest night since August 2011 when the temperature dropped to 0.7C.

The impending front is expected to clear the country on Thursday, but a low should approach New Zealand on Friday, potentially bringing a return to cold weather over the weekend.

However, Mr Law said Northland looked to be more wet than cold during the weekend.

This solar panel at Tikipunga was more of an ice trap on Saturday morning.

"There'll be a real change in the weather in the next couple of days and although temperatures will pick up, the downside are things will get wetter," he said.

"A change in the wind direction to a northerly feed will bring cloud and showers and heavier falls are expected on Wednesday."

He said the last couple of days had been bitterly cold throughout the country with southerly wind flows, although Northland was still "warm" compared to other parts of the country where temperatures plummeted to below zero. Mr Law warned the possibility of another cold front in Northland was real.

Nicki Cook's Pataua South lawn was more like an ice garden on Saturday.

"We're still in winter so there are chances of some cold nights to come. All it takes is a high pressure system like we experienced last weekend and a change in wind direction to southerly," he said.

A light dusting of snow was seen on the Waima Range, south east of Kaikohe, early Friday.