Christchurch is in for a bitterly cold night, with severe southwest gales and snow falling to 400 metres as a front sweeps across Canterbury.

MetService has a strong wind watch in place for severe southwest gales from 5pm Friday through until the early hours of Saturday, covering Christchurch, Banks Peninsula and part of the surrounding plains.

“It’s not particularly good news if you like those warmer conditions,” MetService meteorologist Alwyn Bakker said.

Bakker urged people to check the MetService website to see whether their area falls inside the watch zone.

Snowfall warnings for Canterbury run until Saturday morning, with snow expected down to 400 or 500 metres.

“There’s going to be a bit of snow around. We’ve got a front moving across,” he said. “So that’ll be affecting Banks Peninsula, a few of those higher places as well. It’ll look gorgeous, and it’ll be cold, and I mean really cold.”

The wind is the sting in the tail. With the speeds forecast, wind chill could make it feel about six degrees colder than the thermometer reads.

Conditions are expected to improve from Saturday morning as the rain clears, with a fine Saturday afternoon and a clear, frosty Sunday to follow.

The trade off is a hard overnight freeze, with temperatures dropping to minus two degrees on Saturday night into Sunday.

Bakker’s advice for getting through it was simple.

“Woolly socks, hot water bottles, keep your fires running,” he said.