Snow, sleet and rain have hit New Zealand when a “polar blast” described as the biggest on earth drew icy air up from Antarctica.

The storm was far off the coast of New Zealand but its intensity, stronger than 2005’s devastating Hurricane Katrina in the US, stirred up heavy weather on the south and north islands.

Swells of up to seven metres were reported on Monday along the east coast at Lyall Bay, according to surf website Magic Seaweed.

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“Satellite image shows polar blast about to hit South Island,” the MetService tweeted.

The ski town of Queenstown was dumped with snow, and further north in Dunedin houses were blanketed in a wintry coat of about 10-15 centimetres of snow.

Blogger Amy Franks in Queenstown said Kiwis were doing whatever they could to keep warm.

“We have a rather icy polar blast moving up the country at the moment — people are wearing gloves, coats, hats – anything to keep warm,” she wrote.

See the storm in animated satellite data form here

Three Dunedin students have been taking advantage of the conditions, and one was videoed skiing behind a car on a snow-covered road.

While the cold-snap in May was not a surprise to weather expert Philip Duncan, the strength of the storm was.

“The depth of this storm south of New Zealand is up there with some of the biggest hurricanes we’ve seen. It’s a really big storm,” Mr Duncan told the New Zealand Herald. He said the storm was the biggest on earth at the moment.

The eye of the storm was about 1500 kilometres to New Zealand’s southeast, he said.

8am satellite image shows polar blast about to hit South Island and yesterdays low moving away from North Island. ^SG pic.twitter.com/pvV3Cl6AFd

— MetService (@MetService) May 23, 2015

 A clear cold start for many spots while the low that brought the cold air and large swells to NZ sits to the SE. ^JL pic.twitter.com/EZsaiiHnWC — MetService (@MetService) May 25, 2015

That storm yesterday brought a huge dump of #snow. #queenstown #newzealand #nzmustdo #photooftheday #nz #tourism #p… pic.twitter.com/80iqbirMiS

— Jack Silkstone (@JSilkstone) May 25, 2015