“Obviously not as cold in Northland and Auckland, but we’re down into the low teens.
🥶 Wee bit nippy out there!
⬆️ As if heralding the end of summer, southerly winds are serving us air originating from over the frigid waters of the Southern Ocean, and this is the result.
🧊 In addition to the places on the map, Manapouri reached -0.4°C!
🛏️ Keep the extra… pic.twitter.com/BMcZ3jcxCE
— MetService NZ (@MetService) March 1, 2026
“Auckland is going for 11C overnight and parts of Northland may even dip into single digits.
“[There is] another chilly day was in store for the remainder of tomorrow.”
According to MetService, Queenstown and Alexandra will fall to a low of 3C and 1C, respectively, while both Christchurch and Dunedin will tumble to 8C.
In the North Island, Taupō will tumble to 4C and Hamilton 5C.
Auckland and Kaitaia are forecast to fall to a low of 11C.
Ferris said the latest cold change was “perfectly timed”.
“With finishing a meteorological summer and just stepping into autumn, and a cold front moving up the country, bringing in a very southerly direction of wind.
“We’ve got this air coming from the Southern Ocean, but not just the Southern Ocean, even deeper towards Antarctica.”
Ferris said the cold front does have to travel across quite a large patch of ocean.
“But because it is moving so quickly, we’re not seeing very much warmth being added to that,” he told the Herald.
“It shouldn’t just go from being warm and summery to that cold, that quickly. It’s not just a normal changing of the season, it’s the weather.”
Ferris said New Zealand was set to push through this latest cold snap before temperatures rebound by the end of the week.
“On Friday, it’s looking to be mid to high 20s around parts of Canterbury and Otago.
“While it’s cold today, it doesn’t look like it’s going to last long.”
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