It may be the right time to bring a large load of firewood inside.
A MetService meteorologist said an active front was expected to move east over the country tomorrow, followed by troughs during Wednesday and Thursday.
Then a cold front, preceded by strong northwesterlies, was forecast to move northeast over the South Island from the south Tasman Sea on Friday, bringing a very cold air mass to the southern region at the weekend.\
Snow is forecast for Queenstown, and depending on how potent the air mass is, it could bring snow to most of Otago and Southland.
During the coming week, he said it was likely rainfall amounts could reach warning criteria in Fiordland and Westland during tomorrow and Wednesday, and it was possible it could continue during Thursday and Friday.
In addition, it was possible severe gale northerlies would affect Fiordland tomorrow. It was also possible that severe gale northwesterlies may affect exposed parts of Queenstown Lakes and the Canterbury High Country, both tomorrow and Friday.
