A freezing cold start to the day will make way for fine weather across nearly all of the country.

That includes Dunedin, where conditions will be clear but chilly for the Football Ferns’ World Cup match in the indoor Forsyth Barr Stadium tonight.

Calm and clear conditions have brought much-welcome sunshine to drenched parts of New Zealand while also dropping temperatures to below freezing.

Twizel, in the Canterbury region, was the coldest spot in the country this morning, falling to -6.5C at 7am.

Many main centres were also in the low single digits or below zero this morning. Christchurch was -1.9C at 6am and Taupo was -2.6C overnight.

Aucklanders woke up to a chilly 5.8C, and Wellington was just 2.2C near the airport.

Clear skies and light winds are forecast for most places today.

“The overall message is that it should be fairly fine for much of the country today,” said Metservice forecaster David Miller.

 “From Taranaki northwards there are a few showers hanging around throughout the day, but that’s probably the only fly in the ointment.”

In Dunedin, forecasters are expecting a Dunner stunner for the 25,000 football fans heading to New Zealand’s match against Switzerland. There will be clear skies and temperatures of around 8C leading up to kickoff at 7pm.

In Auckland, where Norway are playing Philippines at Eden Park, is is expected to be around 10C in the evening and light, southerly winds.

The fine weather will continue into the beginning of next week, though there could be some showers in western parts of the North Island tomorrow.

The stretch of settled conditions could end on Tuesday, when a front approaches the South Island.

That could bring heavy rain to Fiordland and Westland, and potentially high winds in the Far South, especially in coastal areas.

There could also be snow at low levels at the bottom of the South Island overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday.