Gale-force winds and thunderstorms are battering the North Island and snow is falling in the south, but the worst of the weather should miss Rugby World Cup games.
A vicious hailstorm shrouded parts of Wellington in white yesterday afternoon, and dropped the air temperature in the capital 8C in 30 minutes.
Police reported two car crashes in Wellington during the storm, which earlier in the day passed over Canterbury and Picton, leaving behind 2cm-wide hailstones.
WeatherWatch analyst Philip Duncan said: "A lot of people were telling us the sky went pitch black and quite scary-looking. And very loud thunder ... some of the loudest they had heard in many years."
The cold southerly weather pattern also caused snowfall in Otago and Queenstown.
