Bitterly cold winds and snow showers are expected to dominate election day in the South.
If snow eventuates it could be the first snowy election in the far south since the July 1984 snap election, when Prime Minister Robert Muldoon lost out to Labour's David Lange, MetService meteorologist Rob Kerr said.
The Otago Daily Times on the Monday after that election featured a photo of children making a snow man outside a polling booth in Dunedin, while reporting high winds, rain and snow had ''lashed'' parts of Otago in the region's second major storm of winter.
Despite the bad weather in the South on that voting day, the highest official turnout, 93.7%, in New Zealand's history was recorded.
This election, the bad weather was expected to hit tomorrow bringing snow to 300m to 400m in the evening along the coast, along with cold, showery southerlies.
''Team Key'' has shown its concern about the forecast sending out an email urging people to beat the weather and ''cast an advance vote now''.
MetService meteorologist Elke Louw said while Dunedin was expected to reach 9degC on Saturday, the wind-chill factor and snow on the hills would make it feel much colder.
Clutha was also expected to experience similar strong cold southerlies and coastal snow.
Inland Otago was expected to escape the worst but could still experience snow showers and cold winds, she said.
