A front is moving on to the south of the country today, bringing rain to the west and south of the South Island, and lowering snow levels down to about 500 metres overnight tonight.

While other parts of the country will be mostly dry today, the front will move over the rest of the country on Friday, bringing a period of rain to most people, and a risk of thunderstorms to central New Zealand.

The weather is then expected to clear up for most places as we head into the weekend.

'We currently have a warning out for snow about higher parts of inland Otago and Canterbury overnight tonight,” says MetService meteorologist Claire Flynn.

'We are also concerned about the risk of thunderstorms for Nelson and Marlborough on Friday afternoon. These will be isolated, so not everyone will get one. However, they are likely to bring significant hail accumulations which could damage new growth on vines in affected places.”

On Saturday, the front is long gone and a ridge of high pressure with calmer weather takes over.

Showers over the North Island will gradually ease and clear throughout the day, though there may be some snow about the Desert Road early in the morning before the weather eases off.

Further south, the weather is expected to be mostly fine for much of the South Island on Saturday.

'The fine weather over the South Island on Saturday brings with it a risk of frosts in the morning, particularly for Central Otago, Nelson and Buller,” says Claire.

'Melting snow could also refreeze overnight, meaning that people should take care when driving.”

The settled weather is then expected to continue into Sunday and Monday for most places. The exceptions to this are a few showers for the West Coast of the South Island, and the possibility of the odd shower for the central North Island.

Also, northwesterly winds could get quite strong and gusty for southern parts of the South Island on Sunday.

On Tuesday, another front approaches, bringing further rain into the west of the South Island, and high cloud further east.