A southern cold blast is moving north across the South Island, with showers, some heavy with snow down to 500 metres this morning. 

The Ida Valley saw decent snowfall, while the Hawkduns were well dusted. 

Around Alexandra and Cromwell, Haehaeata (Leaning Rock/Old Woman) and Kopuwai (Old Man Range) were also sprinkled with decent snow. 

MetService Meteorologist Thapi Makgabutlane says there is fine weather on its way however, with showers becoming isolated this afternoon and fine spells to increase.

Central Otago awoke to snow down to 500 metres on Tuesday, with weather forecasted to clear up this week. Image: MetService. 

The chilly mornings look likely to stay however as autumn marches on. 

“The cold trend continues, with snow in the southern parts Tuesday and daytime temperatures in the lower double-digits.

“Morning frosts are on the cards for the rest of Central Otago for the next couple days,” Thapi says. 

Cromwell-raised MetService Meteorologist Lewis Ferris says its unlikely to see much more snow.

"With a bit more of the white stuff showing up on the hills you may be wondering when the first big dump of snow is due? Well, it’s not looking like this week and unlikely to be next week either," Lewis says.

"Frosts are on the cards if clear skies are over your place this week but the daytime highs remain reasonable once we get past today (Tuesday).

"With a few showers passing over Central today the next chance of any wet weather isn’t until Friday when another weak southerly change moves through the region.

"The high pressure system in the Tasman Sea slowly drifts closer to the South Island so a settled weekend is on the cards."

For the weekend, Saturday is forecasted to be cloudy while Sunday and Monday are likely to be sunny with highs of around 18 degrees.