Skiers hope snow round the corner
A late Taranaki ski season is on the cards with forecasters predicting temperatures to rise in August.
Caretakers of Taranaki’s Manganui skifield are optimistic that more snow is just around the corner but scientists from Niwa say August is due to get warmer rather than colder.
Stratford Mountain Club spokesman Rob Needs said the club had started getting the field ready and were excited by the weather systems moving through the region.
‘‘Then mother nature decided to pull the rug out from under our feet,’’ he said. ‘‘If it had been one to two degrees colder we would have been in the clear but the intermittent rain kept decimating the snow coverage that was coming through.’’
Needs said Manganui typically didn’t see ski-able conditions until after seven snowfalls.
‘‘We’ve had about four so far so we’re just past halfway,’’ he said. ‘‘There’s a bit of a misconception that there should be snow as soon as winter starts, but real winter doesn’t hit until about a month after the winter solstice.’’
However, Niwa meteorologist Ben Noll said average temperatures across New Zealand were expected to rise throughout August.
‘‘It’s been a really warm winter for New Zealand in general,’’ he said ‘‘In fact it’s been the third warmest June on record.’’
Noll said this year’s winter was bucking the trend and instead of winter getting colder as it progresses, it was more likely to remain mild.
‘‘While warmer temperatures lead to more moisture in the atmosphere, that moisture needs to align with cold snaps to get snow, something we’re just not seeing happen,’’ he said.
‘‘The further we go into August and the closer we get to spring, the warmer the temperatures are likely to get in terms of our longrange forecast.’’
In 2015 Manganui saw its official opening at the end of June.
However, Needs said when snow did arrive, operators at the skifield would be rearing to go.