A high-pressure system will slide across the nation later today, though, offering a brief respite from the wintery weather.
"There's been a big weather system that's been affecting the country for quite a few days, that's pulling away to the east," MetService meteorologist Tom Adams said.
"The last lingering effects of that are going through Wellington and up the east coast of the North Island.
"That is already on an easing trend but if they haven't finished they're due to finish in the next few hours."
☀The sun returns!☀ As we wave goodbye to the weather system moving off to the east right now, there is a brief break before the next. Cloud and rain returns to the South Island late Fri/Sat, North Island later on Sunday. https://t.co/Yjbq0jxdqz ^TA pic.twitter.com/uZHz9WahGn
For many, while the mornings will be cold over the next few days, the weekend will bring mostly fine weather.
Rug up overnight, because while most towns and cities see sunshine tomorrow it will come at a price of a frosty start to the morning.
Alexandra in Central Otago is expected to drop to -4C in the early hours of Friday, with Invercargill to reach -3C.
However, the next band of bad weather should arrive tomorrow evening, first impacting the Hokitika area of the South Island's west coast.
Cloud and northwesterly winds would develop on Saturday down south too, with rain setting in on the West Coast.
Meanwhile, in the North Island, the weather is expected to remain settled until late Sunday but showers will arrive by the end of the weekend.
"I should stress that the weekend as a whole is looking pretty good, it all just turns to custard when you get to Sunday night," Adams said.
"Auckland, in particular, is looking at a nice weekend, the cloud and rain doesn't come back until late in the day on Sunday.
"It should be good news for people going to watch the rugby in Hamilton on Sunday but it'll be a little bit touch and go there."
Debris dumped by large waves rolling into Owhiro Bay on Wellington's south coast. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Strong northerly winds are also expected on Sunday night for those in the north, with the risk of heavy rain about Bay of Plenty, Nelson and the West Coast too.
Apart from the west coast of the South Island, Friday should be a generally nice day for everyone and the cloud won't start to hang over until Saturday.
The sun won't disappear behind another nasty weather system until Sunday for those in the North Island, meanwhile.
The weather system which arrives from the west will move away by around Tuesday before the mercury starts to drop, Adams said.
"We go back into the colder, showery, southerly regime again," he said.
There is good news, however, for those heading into the school holidays who love to hit the slopes for some skiing.
The recent southerlies dropped a good amount of snow to Ruapehu and the Canterbury ski fields, with the Southern Lakes set for half a metre of snow over the weekend.
