Beautiful Easter weather not set to last as cold fronts move up from the South Island

The sunny weather isn't expected to last with a cold front bringing rain and wind.

Much of New Zealand has experienced sunshine on Easter Friday but the nice weather isn't set to last.

MetService says two cold fronts will move up the country from the South Island from tomorrow, bringing rain, showers, and wind.

There is a watch for heavy rain in Fiordland for tomorrow morning, due between midnight and 9am, and a severe weather watch is out for severe northwest gales for western Southland, Canterbury's High Country, and Otago.

The rain is expected to ease off on Sunday, but temperatures will still drop.

Sunshine over much of #NZ today, due to high pressure. However, two cold fronts waiting in the wings, expected to move up the South Island on Saturday, reaching the North Island in the evening. What does this mean for your weather? Find out: https://t.co/hnwmGxU1gR ^CF pic.twitter.com/MDefPL3LNt

— MetService (@MetService) March 30, 2018

While the likes of Hastings and Gisborne would see very warm temperatures hovering around 27 degrees, the front would bring a chill to other areas including Auckland, dropping from a high of 24 on Saturday, to 22 by Monday.

Overnight temperatures in Auckland would drop to 16 degrees.

Wellington would experience a high of 19 degrees on Sunday and Monday, with an overnight low of 11 degrees on Sunday night.

And Christchurch and Dunedin would have a high of 17 degrees on Sunday, but plummet to 10 and seven degrees overnight respectively.

MetService meterologist Ravi Kandula said nice weather would return on Sunday but another front would hit the country late Sunday night, heading into Monday morning.

This weekend marked the start of colder Autumn weather, with a farewell to daylight savings on Saturday.

Clocks will go back one hour in the small hours of Sunday.

"There's going to be gradually less sunlight hours so the temperatures are going to be lower," Kandula said.