A week after the country was battered by an Antarctic blast which brought the first snow in decades to much of the country, an early spring is starting its comeback.
WeatherWatch.co.nz forecasters said last month that spring had arrived early - and despite last week's cold snap they stand by their forecast.
"The spring weather pattern certainly started early this year - spring is a mixture of warm sometimes hot days mixed with the odd cold snap," head weather analyst Philip Duncan said.
Mr Duncan said the same anticyclone that brought the cold blast would also bring the warm weather.
"When the high was to our west it will dredging up bitterly cold southerlies, but by the end of this week it will be centred to our east - and the wind flow will switch from the southerly quarter to the northerly quarter."
