"And, of course, here in Middlemarch, we don't see the sun until the fog clears.
"I had to go out and milk the goats. The definition of a goat is an animal whose human gets wet for it.''
MetService forecaster April Clark said some of the coldest temperatures recorded in Otago this year hit yesterday, including -5degC in Alexandra between 6am and 8am, -3.2degC in Queenstown about 6am, -2.1degC in Wanaka about 6am and -2.1degC in Oamaru about 7am.
A frost normally hit when temperatures fell below 3degC, and a "severe frost'' hit when temperatures plummeted below -4degC, she said.
Dunedin and Dunedin Airport had the second-coldest temperatures recorded this year, both about 8am yesterday, with 2.9degC and -1.4degC respectively.
The temperatures at Dunedin and Dunedin Airport were colder on May 15, when 2degC and -2degC respectively were recorded.
The overnight temperatures across Otago would be warmer for the next couple of days, she said.
"But it will be getting cold again soon enough, so people should expect this again.''
Bannockburn olive farmer Stephen Clarke said the frost yesterday was bad news for his crop.
"They're starting to wrinkle a bit. They haven't quite produced the level of oil they need to protect themselves. Fingers crossed they will be OK.''
McLellans Plumbing owner Rory McLellan, whose company services Alexandra, Roxburgh and Omakau, said it had no reports of burst pipes.
"It wasn't quite cold enough, but it was getting down there. Any colder and we would have had a problem.''
Owners should keep their houses warm and drain water if they left town, he said.
A police spokeswoman said no ice-related incidents were reported in Otago yesterday.