Weather: Clearer skies ahead for upper North Island while strong winds on the cards for the South

The grey drizzle that dampened many parts of the upper North Island is expected to clear tomorrow while strong winds will rattle the south as a front moves up the country.

Aucklanders shivered through an "unusually" cold day today with a maximum temperature of 12.1C, MetService said. The national weather authority said days as cold as today, or colder, only occurred two to three times per year.

Much of the North Island was covered in cloud today as a low brought rain to upper regions, while clear skies stretched across the South Island.

The low hovered over Northland, Auckland and Coromandel. MetService said the weather system was bringing mainly light rain to these areas but had warned showers could intensify and become heavy in Northland and Gisborne.

MetService meteorologist Angus Hines said clearer conditions were forecast for the region tomorrow.

"The greyer, drizzlier stuff over the upper North Island will linger for the day today but by sunrise tomorrow, that's cleared out of most places."

An unusually cold day for us today, Auckland! (Hands up who had the heating on?)

We only hit a maximum temperature of 12.1 C.

"Cold days" like today or colder, only occur 2-3 times per year, on average, in Auckland. ^GG pic.twitter.com/jFl1PkftI5

— MetService (@MetService) June 29, 2022

While cloud covered much of the North Island, Te Ika-a-Māui, today, there were large stretches of clear skies over the South Island, Te Waipounamu.

Strong winds are expected in the South Island tomorrow as a front tracks up the country.

MetService has issued strong wind watches for Christchurch and the Canterbury Plains and High Country as well as Clutha and Southland tomorrow, meaning northwest winds could become severe gales in exposed places.

Meanwhile, 1-2cm of snow is expected to settle on parts of the Crown Range Rd above 700m.