Winter arrives right on cue with snowstorms

The weather took a vicious turn yesterday, with snow, thunderstorms and plummeting temperatures gripping parts of the country a day before winter's official kick-off.

But forecasters were offering Queen's Birthday holidaymakers a ray of hope that conditions would ease by Sunday in the North Island at least.

Snow fell at Milford and Queenstown with a heavy-snow warning in place for the central North Island until at least this morning, and drivers being warned of treacherous driving conditions.

Dunedin was forecast to reach minus 2C this morning after 8C yesterday, one degree colder than Christchurch on 9C.

Wellington reached 10C in the afternoon but temperatures were expected to drop to a chilly 6C overnight as the southerly intensified. Heavy rain and winds up to 80km/h battered Auckland with thunderstorms in the afternoon and temperatures as low as 10C.

"It probably feels even colder than that because of the wind," said MetService forecaster Peter Little.

"It's been fairly warm in the north of the country so far so people are going to notice it getting colder.

"This is really just getting back to what temperatures would normally be at this time of year."

A low-pressure system had the country firmly in its grip, said MetService weather ambassador Bob McDavitt, bringing cold southwest winds over New Zealand for the rest of the week.

But winds could ease in time for Queen's Birthday in the North Island although things were likely to get worse before they got better, with southwest winds forecast to reach severe gale force on Thursday and Friday in some areas.