A southerly change is set to sweep across most of the county kicking the recent mild weather to the back seat.

Daily highs in Tauranga are expected to remain around the 15 degree mark, while the MetService is predicting overnight lows to be anywhere between five to nine degrees.

Early morning frosts are expected in Tauranga later this week. File photo.

Media and communications meteorologist Dan Corbett says the weather will be significantly colder later in the week, colder than it has been for a while.

'At this early stage, its possible snow will fall to reasonably low levels over the south and east of the South Island later on Wednesday.

'This could cause a significant issue for farmers with young livestock and for people wishing to use some of the higher mountain roads.”
Dan says a large high has occupied the area southeast of the Chatham Islands for most of August.

'But it's now edging way into the Pacific, making room for southerlies to move over New Zealand in a few days' time.

Before the southerly arrives later in the week, a weak westerly flow is expected to cover New Zealand brining the odd shower to western areas and mostly dry weather in the east.

'After the cold southerlies die away later this week, a few nights' worth of frosts are possible as an anticyclone moves in this coming weekend.”