It was a very white morning in Rangataua, Ohakune, on Monday.

Waihohonu Bridge on the Desert Road. The cold temperatures had snow settling as low as 800m above sea level.

A graphic shows the heavy rain and thunderstorms settling over Auckland this morning.

Ella (9) and Caitlin (7), from Wellington, having a blast in the winter wonderland at the Chateau Tongoriro.

Roads on the Port Hills are coated with snow after a wintry change in the weather.

Satellite image of NZ during good weather on April 1.

A satellite picture taken April 14 shows New Zealand scarcely visible beneath snow and cloud.

The Chateau at the foot of Mount Ruapehu.

The worst of the big chill is over, with the Antarctic air mass moving off to the east of New Zealand.

A cold snap brought snow to much of the South Island on Tuesday, and stormy weather to Auckland.

The country should be warming as the week goes on, Meteorologist Rebekah LaBar said.

David Walker Snow coats Christchurch's Port Hills - and their four-legged residents.

"It looks like the main axis of this cold air has pushed off the east," she said.

"There could be a bit more cold weather, but not as cold as it has been for the last few days."

Southerly winds would persist for Wellington and Auckland.

Lydia Shaw Walking Cairo the dog in a wintry Roslyn, Dunedin.

Aucklanders may see heavy rain, strong gusts, and small hail on Wednesday afternoon, but this would ease off by the evening.

"Going into next week we're going to get some northwesterlies, so things should dry out a bit," LaBar said.

The cold snap shows how vulnerable New Zealand is to air masses coming up from the south, but was not an indication of a long, hard winter, Meteorologist John Law said.

David Walker Traffic on Christchurch's Port Hills was slowed by snow from the wintry blast.

"This will be very short lived. If it was for a longer period, it would be more of an issue," he said.

Snow fall this early in the year was certainly unusual, if not exceptional.

Snow fell on State Highway 1 across the Desert Road overnight as temperatures in the lower North Island dropped to the coldest this year.

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Auckland experienced the worst of a storm sweeping over the northern North Island early on Tuesday morning, with MetService recording 54 lightning strikes over the City of Sails.

Although it would have given some people a fright, it wasn't a large number compared to days when thousands of strikes were recorded, Law said.

Another burst of thunderstorms and blustery, cold winds is set to keep the city to an unseasonably cold 15 degrees Celsius.

The bulk of thunderstorms passed between 4am and 5am, leaving reports of fallen trees, but the Fire Service and police said they received no calls for weather-related incidents in Auckland overnight, and no power outages were reported.

Stormy weather passed over Taranaki this morning with lightning strikes detected around 5am. Showers were lingering in southern parts of the region.

Wellington woke to temperatures between 2C and 7C and a dusting of snow on the Tararua Ranges.

Waiouru in the central North Island dropped to -1C, and snow on the nearby Desert Road was falling to as low as 600 metres above sea level and settling above 800m.

Tuesday night and Wednesday morning are also expected to be cold before temperatures rise as the weekend approaches.

While Waiouru recorded the coldest temperature in the North Island, Tekapo in the South Island recorded New Zealand's overnight low of -3C.

Otago and Banks Peninsula had snow showers on Monday night, which are expected to ease on Tuesday.

Christchurch dropped to 2C overnight, with snow settling in inland parts of Canterbury and Banks Peninsula, and the Southern Alps getting a fresh coating.

Snow also settled in Methven overnight, while MetService said there snow was reported in other inland areas of Canterbury including Oxford, Darfield, Sheffield and Springfield.

Showers are expected to continue in Christchurch on Tuesday morning accompanied by strong, cool southwesterlies and a high of 12C.

The heaviest snowfalls are expected in Southland and southern parts of Fiordland and Otago, especially Clutha.

Roads have been reopened around the lower South Island, including SH94 Te Anau to Milford South which was earlier closed owing to icy conditions, the NZ Transport Agency said.



Cautions were still in place for main roads around Queenstown, Invercargill, and Dunedin.