Weekend weather: Icy start to the weekend

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The coldest place in the country on Saturday morning was inland southern Canterbury, with Pukaki getting down to -2.8C.

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The coldest place in the country on Saturday morning was inland southern Canterbury, with Pukaki getting down to -2.8C.

People are waking to a chilly start to the weekend, with temperatures dropping dramatically across the country.

Single digit temperatures are common across most of the country, but inland of both islands are the iciest.

The coldest place to get out of bed this morning was inland southern Canterbury, with Pukaki getting down to –2.8C in the hour to 8am, MetService meteorologist Peter Little said.

In the North Island, Raetihi was the coldest with a temperature of -1.6C.

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Facebook/Misty-lee Turner

Rain, thunder and lightning lit up South Taranaki early on Wednesday morning.

In Auckland, Ardmore registered 3.6C, followed by Whenuapai on 4.6C.

Little said a humid, subtropical air mass from the north that had brought heavy rain had headed east and been replaced with a colder air mass from the Southern Ocean.

While that meant people were waking up with a chilly start to the day, it was expected to warm and be fine in most places.

Temperatures were to reach around average for this time of the year, with Auckland reaching a high of 18C.

Wellington was expected to reach 15C, Christchurch 14C and Dunedin 15C.

There were, however, still some showers for some people to dodge, especially north of Auckland.

Some were also lurking east of Wellington, Wairarapa, Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne.

Looking ahead to Mother’s Day on Sunday, Little said increased showers were expected.

A weak front was moving across southern and central parts of the country, which meant more rain was likely.

Meanwhile, the global climate was moving into El Niño, Little said. This was when waters in the Pacific Ocean become warmer than usual.

It meant south-westerly winds and more frequent cold snaps were likely this winter.

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