
State Highway 8 covered in snow
New Zealand has recorded its coldest June temperature in five years, but some in the south should keep their shorts on hand for the next few days.
The tiny Otago town of Middlemarch was far from the middle of March on Sunday morning, registering the bone-chilling -12.3 degrees Celsius.
According to Niwa, that marks the country's coldest June temperature since 2015, while it was Middlemarch's lowest since 2001.
The second-coldest spot - the -9.9C a couple of hours west in Clyde - was that town's chilliest since 1978.
MetService, meanwhile, have weather stations in different areas to Niwa, and had Pukaki Airport at -9C, Alexandra Airport at -8.6C, Dunedin Airport at -7.8C, Mt Cook Airport at -6.5C and Christchurch Airport at -5.5C.
It was a second successive shivery night, as a cold front moved slowly up the country, bringing clear skies, light winds, but chilly overnight air temperatures.
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