The brief cold snap in Canterbury is expected to continue through the weekend before the hot and dry conditions return for the rest of February.
MetService meteorologist Alain Baillie said a strong cold front is moving up the South Island, bringing a period of rain to most places and leaving a cold southerly flow in its wake.
"The front reaches Wellington on Saturday night, so by Sunday morning the east of both islands will have fresh-to-strong southerly winds."
"Strong northerly winds in Wellington Saturday evening could mean a windy time for those out taking part in the Lunar New Year celebrations."
Across the lower North Island and the south and east of the South Island, maximum temperatures on Sunday are forecast to be approximately six degrees below average for this time of year.
"Many places have been regularly reaching 30C over the past three weeks, so temperatures in the high teens with a cool southerly wind will feel very different," Baillie said.
According to MetService’s seven-day forecasts, the temperature in Christchurch will fall from a high of 24C on Saturday to a high of just 16C and a low of 9C on Sunday.
Temperatures along the east coast of the South Island reached into the low 30s this week with Blenheim hitting a high of 35C and Christchurch hitting 33C on Tuesday.
However, the warm and dry conditions are expected to return next week and Niwa says rainfall over the next month looks "meagre" across much of New Zealand.
Niwa meteorologist Seth Carrier said from early next week a large area of high pressure will arrive, bringing multiple days of dry weather.
"Weekly rainfall totals could reach 15-25mm in parts of the central North Island, however, rainfall totals of 15mm or less are likely in the rest of the island."
Carrier also said, that from Sunday afternoon through the middle of next week, high pressure will bring mostly dry weather to the South Island.
"Weekly rainfall totals of 40-80 mm are possible in the central and lower West Coast, including Fiordland, while much of Canterbury, Otago, and Southland will receive 15-30mm," he said.
"However, meagre rainfall amounts are expected in the upper South Island, where weekly totals may be 5mm or less."
This trend is forecast to continue until March.
Carrier said drier conditions are forecast through March across all of Niwa’s rainfall scenarios
"Such agreement gives an increased confidence in drier than normal conditions in the coming weeks."
