The start of the week brings wind and rain on Monday before cold air brings risk of snow and thunderstorms on today with Severe Weather Watches in force.

On Wednesday, conditions will become mostly settled until the weekend, due to high pressure across the country, said the latest update from the MetService.

The last few weeks have brought many fast moving weather systems across our shores and the beginning of this week is no different.

Northwesterly gales and heavy rain move across the country today (Monday) as a frontal system moves in from the west.

Heavy Rain Watches are in force for parts of the West Coast and Strong Wind Watches cover parts of Canterbury, Marlborough, Wellington and Wairarapa, said a statement from the MetService.

Behind the frontal system is some unstable, cold air which is forecast to bring 15-20cm of snow about the Milford Road between Monday night and Tuesday afternoon. Lindis Pass and Crown Range Road could also see a couple centimetres of snow before the end of Tuesday.

There is also risk of some blustery thunderstorms across the South Island and lower North Island caused by atmospheric instability, with Canterbury also having risk of hail Tuesday afternoon.

Wednesday sees mostly settled weather across the country due to high pressure from the Tasman Sea.

However, a strong northwest wind around the southwestern corner of the South Island brings rain to Fiordland. Southern Westland and coastal Southland get a bit of the wet weather as well on Thursday.

MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris states, “From around midday on Thursday the forecast models become less cohesive on the potential weather to end the week but there’s a decent risk of wet and windy weather for parts of the country due to a low-pressure system approaching from the Tasman Sea. So, make sure to keep up with the latest forecasts, if you’re making any weekend plans.”