A week of cold, wet and windy weather is making way for a settled weekend for most of the country, with a dusting of snow to follow for skifields north and south.
The week started "with a bang" as an intense southwest change dragged temperatures down and winds up, but little of the weather system remained today - just its chill, MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris said.
"We're just seeing the remnants. It sets us up for a nice weekend, albeit quite cold."
The weather would be settled today, with only the West Coast of the South Island in the sights of another front.
It could expect rain from this afternoon, Ferris said.
The rest of the island would be cold and frosty, with highs of 11C or 12C in Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown, and 14C in Nelson.
No significant rain was on the way in the North Island, but Auckland and Hamilton could cop a shower or two alongside highs of 15C and 14C, and Wellington would get rain in the evening.
Popular school holiday spots Tauranga and Taupō will be fine, with highs of 14C and 11C respectively.
The front bringing wet weather to the South Island moves north tomorrow, with rain and showers to the western North Island and Wellington, and wind increasing through the day.
A southerly behind the front would cross the South Island later and bring rain - and snow to 200m in parts of Southland and Otago overnight tomorrow, Ferris said.
Southern skifields, including in Canterbury, could expect a dusting from the fast-moving southerly, but others might miss out - even above 200m.
"It's not looking like a widespread snow event."
That was good news for skiers and snowboarders on Monday, and there would be fine weather to follow.
North Island skifields were also likely to get a dusting of snow when the system moved across the North Island on Monday morning, he said.
Skifields had a busy start to the school holidays. Mt Hutt stopped vehicles going up the mountain late morning yesterday, after the carpark filled. A one car down/one car up policy was in place for the rest of the day.
Wanaka's Cardrona skifield also had to manage capacity, with the car park almost full by 10am, while Coronet Peak had a one car up/one car down policy for two hours from 9.45am yesterday.
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