The winds from the south had already brought some cooler temperatures to start the week, Early morning temperatures in Taupo had fallen to just below freezing and, in the south, Dunedin airport recorded a minimum of 0.6degC, MetService communications meteorologist John Law said.
''During this week, temperatures are likely to reach highs of around 20degC for Auckland and Hamilton while in the south, temperatures are likely to be in the mid to high teens.''
While a high of 21degC was predicted for Thursday in Dunedin, rain was forecast for Friday and Saturday, with temperatures dropping to 14degC-16degC.
Similar weather was predicted for inland Otago with overnight lows sitting about 6degC-9degC. The change would be the result of a large area of high pressure to the west of New Zealand, centred over the southern Tasman Sea, while to the east an area of low pressure sinks southwards away from the Chatham Islands, leaving the country in a cooler southwest feed of air.
''A series of troughs in this flow are set to move northwards across the country, bringing a scattering of showers. However, as we head towards the middle of the week, the high pressure is set to push on to the country, bringing further settled weather.''
The longer range forecasts were hinting at a developing area of low pressure east of Queensland moving towards New Zealand into the start of next week. It was a little too far into the future to be precise, but it might bring some much needed rainfall to the North Island as well as the western coast of the South Island, he said.
