Kiwis will need to bring out their winter woollies this week as a polar blast causes temperatures to plummet around the country.
MetService said an "intense cold outbreak", which spreads northwards over the country from Tuesday evening to Thursday will bring unseasonable low snow to the South Island and lower North Island.
South to southwest gales are also possible, especially in the east from Invercargill to Wellington and snow is likely to affect many parts of the South Island and some roads over the lower and central North Island, MetService said.
A heavy snow watch is in place for Marlborough, the Canterbury High Country and foothills, North Otago, Central Otago and the Lakes District, Christchurch, Southland, Stewart Island, Clutha, Dunedin, and Fiordland from Te Anau southwards.
MetService warns of a brief burst of heavy snow for these areas with the watch in place until Thursday morning.
A road snowfall warning is in place for Arthur's Pass (SH73), Porters Pass (SH73), Lindis Pass, Crown Range Road and Milford Road (SH94).
NIWA Principal Scientist Chris Brandolino told AM on Tuesday New Zealand is going to experience an "unusual cold snap" over the coming days.
"It'll move on to the South Island during the day today. So Invercargill will be first in line. Coastal Southland this afternoon to see gusty wind rain," Brandolino told AM fill-in host Laura Tupou.
The cold snap could see Invercargill break the record of 5.8C for the coldest high for the month of October for the city. It's scheduled to reach 6C in Invercargill on Wednesday.
Brandolino said Christchurch could have October snow for the first time since 1969.
He added it's going to be a "shocker" in Wellington with a chilly start on Thursday with temperatures as cold as 4C at 8am.
"A nice southerly gusting to 80 or 90kmph and raindrops may be mixed with snow and the effective temperature of the wind chill going to be below zero," Brandolino said.
"As I say, if this were July, this would be noteworthy, but the fact that it is October is especially noteworthy."
Brandolino said Aucklanders could experience a chilly day on Thursday and Friday.
"It's pretty mild, pretty warm, relatively speaking, today and even tomorrow but by Thursday, the wind, the chill, Friday morning we could see temperatures near one or two degrees in Auckland," he said.
"So it will be a short, kind of sharp, two to four days cold snap."
But Brandolino had good news for Kiwis looking for some warm sunny weather.
"Things start to warm up over the weekend and especially next week. If I'm here this time next week, we're talking about unusual warmth," Brandolino explained.
"So spring is the teenager of seasons, we love spring, but they can act out sometimes, get a bit high, an emotional low. So spring is that teenager of the seasons, a lot of unpredictability. A lot of acting out."
Watch the full interview with Chris Brandolino above.
