Snow has been settling in areas of northern Southland, and on the hills around Queenstown. It has also been falling in parts of Central Otago such as Ranfurly, Wedderburn and St Bathans.
Central Otago district councillor Stu Duncan, who farms at Wedderburn, said the cold snap came as a surprise.
Yesterday he had planned to make hay, but at 30-plus degC it was too hot.
His hay-making plans were halted again this morning after snow started falling.
By 10.30am the temperature was 4.7degC and the north Rough Ridge hill range was white, he said.
"They forecast 3mm of rain, but I didn't expect snow."
At St Bathans' historic Vulcan Hotel, manager Wanda Grant said the snow was on par with what the tiny settlement could expect in winter but today's fall was short-lived, with a return to more normal conditions by noon.
"The sun is shining now and it's melting fairly quickly."
A Garston resident earlier told RNZ there was "a lot of snow", and said it was settling in the area.
She said snow at this time of year was not unusual, but today's fall was unusually heavy.
Snow that fell in Kingston did not settle.
In Queenstown the temperature this morning was about 5degC - snow fell to low levels on the Remarkables, but did not settle on the ground.
MetService had predicted snow to about 500m, as a series of fronts moved through.
MetService meteorologist Angus Hines said snow had fallen as low as 200m in Fiordland, which was "pretty low" for this time of year.
A Fiordland resident had contacted staff to let them know there was 10-15cm of snow at 900m.
"A light dusting" could be expected tonight in higher areas of 600m and above.
While MetService had not picked up temperatures for the area on its sensors, it was entirely possible numbers had gone into the negatives, Mr Hines said.
Te Anau had 26mm of rainfall overnight and a minimum of three degrees about 6am today.
There had been no further rainfall since about 9am and the day was expected to brighten up; however, more wet weather was on the way tonight.
Tuatapere had a "pretty decent dose" of rain overnight with 34mm recorded.
Showers had eased off this morning and the day was expected to clear, followed by more rain tonight.
Lumsden had a recorded low of 1.4degC overnight.
The post stated temperatures had got as low as -1.8 degrees at 5.30am today.
In Central Otago the front has brought dustings of snow to the Old Man, Dunstan, St Bathans, and Hawkdun ranges.
This morning the temperature was 7degC in Alexandra, in stark contrast to yesterday's high of 25decC.
