Weather

Inland Canterbury areas have been covered in snow this morning.

In the hard-hit western province of Ghor, 50 people were reported dead, said Abdul Wahid Hamas, spokesman for the provincial governor.

People are being warned the snow could damage trees and powerlines and cause stress for livestock.

Heavy snow watches for parts of the South Island as a decent dumping is expected Saturday.

NEMA did not have enough trained staff when Cyclone Gabrielle hit - just one of a litany of failures a review has uncovered.

A severe thunderstorm watch remains in place for the west coast of the North Island for the early hours of Thursday morning.

MetService forecasts strong winds for western parts of the North Island overnight with a risk of tornadoes.

Analysis - Power should be subsidised for struggling households, Jodi Gardner writes.

It has been another night of freezing temperatures but this time the central North Island bore the brunt of the current cold snap.

A solar storm has been creating vivid colourful skies around the world, including in New Zealand.

An expert helping prepare NZ for the impacts of solar storms says Earth is in the middle of a pretty seriously big geomagnetic storm right now, but he stresses it is not an extreme event.

An "extreme" geomagnetic storm is affecting Earth at present.

Meanwhile, it has been another chilly start for some parts of the country with temperatures dropping as low as -6 degrees Celsius.

A searing heat wave has prompted blackouts nationwide and pushed the power grid to the brink.

While the wintry temperatures are set to continue over the weekend, it won't be as cold as Thursday night. Video