Many places have had a frosty start to Mother's Day. Photo: RNZ / Maree Mahony
It has been another night of freezing temperatures but this time the central North Island bore the brunt of the current cold snap.
Rotorua saw its second coldest May temperature since records began in 1972 with -3.3C recorded at the airport.
The coldest place overnight was eastern Rangitaiki, between Napier and Taupō, where minus -8.7C was recorded.
By about 8.20am on Sunday, Christchurch and Hamilton on Sunday were still at -1C, while it was -4.1C in Twizel.
MetService said it was a frosty morning in many places and most places were forecast to get a fine Mother's Day earlier on with a chance of showers developing in many places later in the day.
MetService said this week's temperatures should be more typical for this time of year - cold but not extreme.
MetService forecaster Claire O'Connor said the week ahead would be warmer.
"And that does mean that we're returning to more ... average temperatures for this time of year whereas these ones we've been seeing have definitely been below average."