New Zealand weather: Awful yesterday, worse today for many

The solar winter ended yesterday — and the weather was, at times, miserable. Today, it'll be worse for some.

While the country officially inched closer to spring, marking the end of the solar
winter — the six weeks either side of the shortest day when daily sunlight hours are at their most miserly — yesterday, there was little to celebrate as a cold blast of air from the Antarctic arrived.

The weather system is bringing sub-zero temperatures and snow down to sea level in some parts of New Zealand, and huge waves of up to 8m are also forecast for the west coasts of both the North and South Islands over the weekend. Boaties and fishers have been warned to stay home until at least Tuesday.

Yesterday afternoon, flooding on Auckland's busiest motorway caused traffic delays, as sheets of rain and swirling winds passed across the city at times.

Further south, the white stuff is on the way.

A couple of fronts would bring snow showers over the next two days. MetService's severe weather outlook warns of likely snow for the central North Island and the northwest and far south of the South Island.

Snow could get down to sea level in parts of Southland today — the heaviest snow is expected above 100m in Southland, Clutha and southern Fiordland. Other parts of the South Island are under a snow watch for areas between 100m and 400m above sea level.

A Heavy Snow Warning is in force for Southland, Clutha & southern Fiordland down to 100 metres beginning this evening - this may disrupt travel, damage trees & powerlines and stress livestock. Lesser amounts of snow are expected to sea level. Details: https://t.co/Sd5C6lrsSL ^CRN pic.twitter.com/8V3CsrRAuz

— MetService (@MetService) August 3, 2019

Westerly gales may also become severe in exposed parts of southern Hawke's Bay and northern Wairarapa this morning.

The MetService is also warning of severe southwest gales for parts of Southland, Clutha and Dunedin tomorrow and early Tuesday.

"For the first time in a long time we've got good southerlies over the country, bringing cold temperatures from the South Pole," MetService forecaster Tom Adams said yesterday.

"They are already bringing cold temperatures and it will stay cold for a couple of days," he said.

Windy conditions have prevented some areas getting as cold as they might. When skies clear tonight, temperatures will fall even further.

Temperatures dipped to -2.9C at Mt Cook Village and -2.4C at Woodbourne, near Blenheim, yesterday.

Alexandra will reach a high of just 4C today, and Queenstown 6C.

In Auckland, it will be 14C today, with rain and strong winds, while Wellington will reach 13C, amid strong winds and scattered rain clearing late morning, before showers return at night. In Christchurch it will be a chilly 9C, but showers will clear to fine spells.