Major Otago roads have reopened after snow cut off parts of the South Island, but many schools remain closed.
Eleven schools and 17 early childhood services are closed in Southland and Otago as a result of the snow, the Ministry of Education says.
The Crown Range and Lindis Pass were closed due to heavy snow but have since reopened.
The snow was brought in by a bitterly cold southerly front from Antarctica. The South Island hovered around 0degC overnight, with snow at lower elevations.
Parts of Canterbury, Southland and Otago face rain and occasional snow flurries for the rest of Wednesday.
Snow could reach low lying areas down to 200 metres, MetService meteorologist Kyle Lee says.
Many Queenstown locals Newshub spoke with were enjoying the wild weather, which was "good news" for ski fields, Mr Lee says.
Mt Hutt reports they got a dumping of 30cm of snow overnight ahead of their opening day on Friday.
And Cardrona says 12cm of snow fell overnight.
The bad weather is likely to spread to the North Island later in the day with the risk of heavy rain and hail.
A heavy rain and snow watch is in place for Gisborne and Hawke's Bay regions which could bring rain down to 500 metres.
The closed schools are:
Dunedin:
Halfway Bush School
Brockville School
Wakari School
Pine Hill School
Queenstown Lakes District:
Wakatipu High School
Shotover Primary,Queenstown
Kingsview School
Queenstown School
St Joseph’s, Queenstown
Remarkables Primary, Queenstown
Arrowtown School
Closed early childhood services:
Dunedin:
Brockville Kindergarten
Halfway Bush Kindergarten
Wakari Kindergarten
Te Kohanga Reo o Whanau Paki
Gumtree Montessori
Queentown Lakes District:
Kidsfirst Kindergarten, Wakatipu
Little Earth Montessori, Queenstown
Arrowtown Preschool
Zigzagzoo Early Learning Centre
ABC Queentown
Queentown Playcentre
Queentown Preschool and Nursery
Arrowtown Preschool
Montessori Arrowtown
Gore District:
Elsie Kindergarten
Oxford Kindergarten
Longford Kindergarten
Newshub.
