Make the most of the lingering warm weather — it is about to get pretty chilly in the South.
Widespread snow down to 400m is expected to fall around much of inland Otago and Southland on Wednesday and Thursday this week.
A MetService spokesman said rain would begin falling across the regions tonight, and tomorrow a frontal rain-band would move northeast across the country, bringing heavy rain to many areas and gales to exposed places.
"On Wednesday, a large and active trough of low pressure over the Tasman Sea starts to move on to the country, with colder, strong or gale southerlies developing over the South Island.
"For Southland and eastern parts of Otago, there is moderate confidence of warnable amounts of rain on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"Snow is expected to lower to around 400m over southern New Zealand for a time, which could affect a number of higher roads," the spokesman said.
On Thursday, the cold southerlies are expected to spread over the North Island, with a ridge of high pressure building over the country on Friday, with winds easing.
At this stage, it looks like it will be clear skies again for Mother’s Day and the rest of the weekend.
Yesterday, heavy rain hammered the upper South Island where MetService orange weather warnings were in place for up to 90mm of rain to fall on what had already fallen.
The heavy rain caused streams and rivers to rise rapidly, there was some surface flooding and driving conditions were hazardous.
Another significant period of rain was expected to fall from late today and MetService said it may extend its weather warning.
