Sun is back on Christmas Day

Robert Grigg throws hail stones on the beach at Port Waikato. Picture / Angela Gregory

After a weekend lashed with rain, hail, freezing gales and even snow in some places, weather forecasters are picking Christmas Day will be relatively fine.

But first there will be more snow, rain and possibly thunder this week.

Forecasters are predicting sunshine for Saturday - a stark difference to this weekend, which threatened to give North Islanders their first white Christmas.

Hailstorms in Auckland yesterday morning left the motorways with icy lanes looking as if they had been covered in snow.

Port Waikato residents woke to find their black-sand beach covered in hail so thick some residents said they could have been at Mt Ruapehu.

The wild weather, which damaged some Auckland homes, was widespread.

Passengers boarding ferries across Cook Strait had long delays as the boats were lashed by swells of up to 8m. A 7pm sailing of the Lynx fast ferry was cancelled last night.

Snow fell in the Central North Island, dusting the Desert Rd, the central mountains and the Kaimanawa Ranges.

In the South Island snow fell to 600m in several towns.

MetService senior forecaster Erick Brenstrum said the unusual weather was caused by an outbreak of very cold air from near the Antarctic ice sheet.

"When that comes north into our part of the world the sea temperatures are warm enough that you trigger off really good showers which sometimes have hail and thunderstorms involved.

"When this sort of thing happens it's a bit more likely in the east of both islands. One of the things which was a bit more unusual was that we got so much hail around Auckland."

Mr Brenstrum said the bad news was that the wintry weather had not completely gone.

He predicted cold fronts would hit on Tuesday and on Wednesday afternoon and into Thursday.

By Saturday the situation should be calmer and there is a good chance many North Island residents would get a fine Christmas Day.

"It looks like there is a chance of showers in some eastern area but for a lot of the country it's not too bad. As far as Auckland goes, it might be one of those southwesterlies where you have got chances of showers in the Waitakeres - not all that heavy, just irritation value, really."

Either way the showers will be welcomed over the hail and snow which left many North Islanders wondering what month it really was.

Port Waikato resident Robert Grigg said heavy thunder and lightning storms were accompanied by hail yesterday morning, which transformed the small beachside town into something resembling a ski resort.

"It was just amazing," he said. "The kids were throwing snow balls, they had boogie boards out and were skiing down hills and getting towed around by cars on the dunes. It was just like you were in the snow."

Lightning stuck a house in the Auckland suburb of Glen Innes on Saturday night, causing a fire in the ceiling and blowing up sound equipment belonging to the occupants.

Firefighters took less than a minute to extinguish the blaze after removing sheets of iron from the roof.

The forecast

Tomorrow: Rain, followed by showers in the west and fine in the east.

Wednesday: Showers in most districts, with a few thunderstorms in the north and west .

Thursday: Showers in most places, but dry in the east and south of the North Island.

Christmas Eve: Showers and southwesterlies .

Christmas Day: Mostly fine but possible showers in the Waitakeres and eastern parts of the country.