Forecasters are also keeping watch on the next cold snap set to hit the country in the middle of next week
MetService forecaster Mmathapelo Makgabutane said cloudy skies would clear across New Zealand today, though a bit of high cloud would likely remain around parts of Canterbury where snow fell to sea level in parts and disrupted travel across the island.
“For a lot of the country we should expect some good fine spells today,” she said.
Two Women’s World Cup quarterfinal matches today in Wellington and Auckland are expected to be played in fine conditions.
“It’s definitely the best day they could have picked in terms of this week,” Makgabutane said.
However, tomorrow the country would wake to some of the lowest temperatures of 2023 because of the procession of cold fronts that had swept up New Zealand over the week, each one bringing successively icier air.
“So we’ve got a lot of cold air over the country and now, with the cloud clearing, those temperatures are expected to drop even further overnight, meaning that Saturday morning is going to be a particularly cold one,” she said.
Severe frosts were possible for inland centres.
Sub-zero temperatures were likely to be recorded across much of the South Island inland, but in the North Island Masterton was also expected to drop to -4C and Taupō to -3C.
The rest of the day would bring scattered showers to western regions, while the east of both islands would remain fine before the next wave of fronts marched across the country on Sunday bringing rain.
Road snow warnings have been issued for the Crown Range Road and the Milford Road (State Highway 94) for Saturday morning, and there is one currently in place for the North Island's Desert Road
With the last of the snow falling on the volcanic plateau, MetService was also keeping watch on a fresh weather system due to move up the country in the middle of next week.
Makgabutane said at this stage it was too early to tell how cold it would get, but snow was expected to fall in elevated areas of the South Island.
“The next weather system looks to come through midweek next week, Wednesday into Thursday.
“Over the next week or so we can expect some unsettled weather, which is very typical for this time of year.”
