Egmont and Tongariro national parks and the Ruahine Range were forecast to have snow to 1600m overnight and the Tararua Range was set for snowfall to 1400m. Severe gales are expected in the Tararuas, following a wild weekend of weather that hammered parts of the lower North Island, with huge seas causing coastal erosion on the Kapiti Coast.
In contrast, higher temperatures are expected for some areas in the North Island in coming days, as warm winds from Australia give way to mild conditions across some parts of the country.
Despite some rain, wind and snow, our days are getting noticeably longer, five weeks on from the shortest day of the year.
The upper North Island has passed the 10-hour mark of daily sunshine, with Auckland now notching 10 hours and 7 minutes per day. Whangarei is enjoying the most daily sunshine hours of the main centres at 10 hours and 9 minutes.
The lower South Island by comparison has 50 minutes less daylight, with Invercargill recording 9 hours and 19 minutes per day.
The longer evenings are a forerunner to the summer solstice just before Christmas, which sees the sun set in the upper North Island after 8.30pm.
And anyone pining for the good old Kiwi barbecue can take some comfort. Our days get longer again at the end of September as daylight saving kicks in on the last Sunday of the month.
On September 25, 2am becomes 3am, giving us an extra hour of daylight in the evenings.
Sunshine count:
Whangarei: 7:25am-5:34pm (10 hours and 9 minutes)
Auckland: 7:24am-5:31pm (10 hours and 7 minutes)
Gisborne: 7:14am-5:14pm (10 hours)
New Plymouth: 7:31am-5:29pm (9 hours 58 minutes)
Wellington: 7:34am-5:21pm (9 hours and 47 minutes)
Christchurch: 7:48am-5:23pm (9 hours and 25 minutes)
Dunedin: 8:03am-5:25pm (9 hours and 22 minutes)
Invercargill: 8:13am-5:32pm (9 hours and 19 minutes)
