Wintery wonderland
You can swap the surfboard for skis if you want after skifields received a blanket of summer snow. A southerly blast over the past few days pushing temperatures below zero in places has also left up to 50cm of the white stuff plastered across the slopes.
Mt Hutt ski area manager James McKenzie said on Monday staff woke up to a blanket of snow on the usually rocky summer slopes.
The fresh dump means an early tryout for a new ski track being developed for the coming season.
“We are still sitting at around 30 to 50cm, evenly distributed around the main snow trails. It is pretty good . . . I am hoping to get out later today for a go.”
It’s certainly unseasonable, but McKenzie said they also had some heavy snow in January/February last year and in 2017. “We tend to get snow in most months, but it is definitely unusual to be contemplating the prospect of skiing in February.”
The skifield has an open day this weekend to raise funds for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter, and had expected mountain biking to be the focus. Now McKenzie said people could even bring their snow gear. McKenzie expected the snow to hang around through the weekend but be gone next week as warmer weather returned.
Mt Ruapehu in the North Island, and Cardrona, Treble Cone, Roundhill and Porters in the South Island all also reported snowfall. MetService’s forecast for Auckland has a high of 23C today through to Friday, rising to 24C on Saturday then 25C on Sunday.