Winter's icy chill sign of things to come

Soccer players in Sunday's Wellington Senior Women's league at Hutt Park are battered by a hail storm. Photo / Russ Burley

Click here to send us your photos and video of the icy weather.

The icy chill of the first day of winter was a sign of things to come.

Forecasters are predicting a colder June than usual, starting with a frosty week caused by a large high which moved in yesterday from the Tasman Sea.

Tomorrow and Thursday are expected to be fine in most places, but with frosts.

Coastal showers in the east of the North Island are expected to clear.

Auckland, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty will have highs of 14C. Northland will be slightly warmer with highs of 15C and 16C.

On Friday, the Bay of Plenty and the east coast of the North Island are tipped to have sunny weather, but elsewhere it will be cloudy with showers developing south of Auckland.

Temperatures for the entire winter are expected to be about average, says the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research's winter season outlook. But the central North Island is still likely to have cold spells and more frost than usual.

Rainfall is likely to be normal or above normal over the north and east of the North Island.

The first day of June brought a chill to most of New Zealand, and a big fall of snow isolated a tiny North Island village.

Matawai's hotel, coffee lounge, bar, dairy, camping ground and community hall were closed yesterday after more than 200mm of snow blanketed the small town on State Highway 2 between Gisborne and Opotiki from about 5pm on Sunday.

"The whole of the region is under snow," community Constable Mutu Noanoa said.

"It is unusual. I don't believe they've had a dump to this extent for more than 20 years. Nothing's open."

The highway was closed from the start of the Waioeka Gorge to 9km south of Matawai, sending motorists travelling between Gisborne and Opotiki on an extra 190km detour around the coast on State Highway 35.

Vehicles became stuck in the snow on Traffords Hill at the end of the gorge, and Mr Noanoa was up until 2am yesterday helping tow them through.

Snow ploughs started clearing the road yesterday morning and it was re-opened about 12.15pm.

Weather Watch Centre head analyst Philip Duncan said temperatures were around 1C and 2C in Hawkes Bay yesterday, bringing sleet and some light snow into the city centres to sea level - something not seen for years.

Snow had not been particularly heavy during the long weekend, but it had fallen in unusual places, such as Napier, Hastings, Wellington, Porirua and Upper Hutt.

Snow also fell on the Kaimai and Coromandel ranges and lightly in Palmerston North yesterday.

Motorists returning home from holiday were yesterday advised to take care on North Island roads because of the risk of black ice.

Heavy ice closed the Desert Road, and a warning was issued for the Napier-Taupo State Highway 5.

The Tangahoe Bridge south of Hawera on State Highway 3 in south Taranaki was closed to heavy vehicles.