Low snow on way for South
AFTER a weekend of wild weather, southerners are being told to brace for another cold blast bringing snow to low levels from today.
Snow was forecast to fall to around 600m in Fiordland, Southland and Otago overnight and is expected to fall to between 200m and 300m later in the week.
Dunedin’s hill suburbs may also see a coating as snow is forecast to fall to 200m in the city on Wednesday.
MetService meteorologist April Clark said a southwesterly change this afternoon was likely to bring rain and snow to Otago and Southland.
The heaviest and lowest snowfalls would arrive on Wednesday, she said.
‘‘Really, Wednesday is the day the snow is likely to fall to its lowest but there is a bit of uncertainty there but there is a chance.’’
Snow had closed one road by yesterday evening and the alpine passes were also expected to get a dusting overnight.
The Milford Road (State Highway 94 Te Anau to Milford Sound) was closed from Hollyford Road junction and Chasm yesterday afternoon, due to the forecast snow.
As snow was expected to keep falling, the NZ Transport Agency warned motorists to expect delays on the highway today.
Snow and sleet flurries were also expected on the Lindis Pass (SH8), Arthurs Pass (SH73), Lewis Pass (SH7) and the Crown Range.
Parts of Central Otago were buffeted by high winds over the weekend, closing some roads.
Cemetery Rd in Naseby and Mount Buster Rd (the section between Dansey’s Pass Rd and Little Kyeburn Rd) were closed after strong winds felled trees on Saturday.
Coronet Peak skifield was forced to delay its opening on Saturday morning and heavy rain caused slips near Queenstown.
In Dunedin, strong winds led to some flights being cancelled on Saturday morning.
NORTH Otago Golf Club members were angered by the ‘‘senseless damage’’ done to their Oamaru course after a 4WD was driven over greens and fairways on Friday night or Saturday morning.
North Otago Golf Club secretary Julia Knight said repair work was likely to be more labour intensive than costly, ‘‘but it shouldn’t have to be done’’.
‘‘They’ve really had quite a picnic out here — they’ve run over some of the greens and broken the flag sticks, and they’ve done some doughnuts on some very wet parts of the course, and they’ve also driven into one of our sheds and knocked it over completely. It’s very disappointing, horrible.’’
Golfers who teed off at 8.30am on Saturday were not aware of the damage until they had played a few holes, she said.
But the course was still usable and more than 100 golfers played on Saturday and yesterday.
‘‘It’s just inconvenient and horrible to look at,’’ Mrs Knight said.
‘‘Everywhere he’s gone, he’s done skids.’’
The club’s CCTV system captured video of what appeared to be a young man briefly walking around the clubhouse.
It appeared the man tamp ered with the green fees box in an attempt to break into it, she said.
A few minutes later a 4WD could be seen driving over the practice green and on to the course.
‘‘We are very hopeful we will get the people involved.’’
Senior Constable Carl Pedersen, of Oamaru, said police were reviewing the video footage, and would like to hear from anyone with information about the incident.
Inquiries were continuing.