Auckland hotter than Sydney as cold winds bite major Aussie cities

Fog hides Auckland Harbour Bridge on Wednesday. Photo / Michael Craig

Auckland is hotter than several major Australian cities right now due to a cool wind whipping across parts of Victoria and New South Wales.

MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris told the Herald some areas across the ditch were under the influence of a southwest wind.

He said this meant there were cooler temperatures there than in Auckland, which is sitting at 17C right now.

It's 11C in Sydney this morning, 13C in Brisbane and 11C in Melbourne.

On Friday and Saturday Melbourne is forecast to have a high of 13C, whereas Auckland is forecast to have a high of 16C.

While that cool wind could head to New Zealand later in the week, Ferris said Aucklanders might be able to hold onto warmer weather until next week.

Weather Watch have also predicted that the South Island and Tasmania will be more wintry while the North Island is more autumn-like during this patch of weather.

Heavy rain, heavy snow, severe gales and thunderstorms make up the forecast - but some regions will be mostly dry and fairly sunny.

A severe storm warning is already in place for the lower North Island as reports of flooding in parts of Wellington emerge.

Half a metre of snow is expected to fall on one of the South Island's iconic holiday highways, while monster waves will pound parts of the North Island coastline as the country braces for winter's first polar blast.

More than 700 lightning strikes have lit up the sky over central New Zealand overnight as a severe thunderstorm warning for the central and lower North Island and top of the South Island with wild weather - including hail and possible tornadoes - remains in force today.

Southern and central regions in the South Island are preparing for heavy snow and parts of the North Island coastline brace for monster seas crashing on to the shoreline in the coming 24 hours.