Snow, heavy rain and strong winds are likely to hit the South Island in coming days as a "large and complex low pressure system" heads towards New Zealand.
However, while a wintry blast will hit the country's eastern coast, there could be other areas that bask in sunshine during the storm.
Usually bearing the brunt of any storm, the West Coast is set to be among the driest areas for the next seven days, according to Philip Duncan at weatherwatch.co.nz.
As for the weekend's storm, Duncan said there could be between 1cm to 5cm of snow falling on the Canterbury plains.
He said there could be snow in Otago as well.
The south to southwest flow will see Canterbury hardest hit by rain too, with early estimates of between 70mm and 90mm through inland areas, including Darfield.
"This rain, if it does eventuate, will be very welcome in the dry region," Duncan said.
As the North Island has milder westerlies at the end of the week - after a gusty few days - it will be the South Island's turn by Sunday, with the strong winds battering eastern Australia likely to be felt here by then.
Despite the storm, MetService has South Island temperatures hovering around 10 or 11C - similar to today - although Christchurch is currently just warming up after an overnight low of 1C.
Meanwhile, in the Coromandel, the king tide is to begin hitting the region tonight and area civil defence controller Garry Towler says they're bracing for big waves.
Diggers and bobcats will be at the ready to help lessen the impact of the larger-than-normal swell set to batter areas, including Whitianga.
Towler said the large swells are forecast to hang around until about Saturday but they were ready for it.
"Really, we're just going to be business as usual. Over the next few days we don't anticipate any risk to people or property."
