Rain, snow and low temperatures for South Island
Heavy snow and biting winds in the South Island are expected to stick around today as the cold snap reaches further north.
The North Island is set for a little taste of the cold weather brought by the system that blanketed parts of Canterbury, Otago and Southland in snow yesterday. MetService forecaster Aidan Pyselman said heavy-snow warnings for inland Canterbury and parts of Marlborough were expected to be in place until this afternoon.
‘‘There is more to come for large parts of the South Island.
‘‘Strong winds and more snow mean a fair few places are not going to get out of single-digit temperatures tomorrow.’’
He said the lower North Island was set for heavy rain and ‘‘pretty chilly temperatures’’ brought by 40-knot southeasterlies.
Wellington is not expected to get into double digits. The top half of the island would start with showers which would develop into heavy rain in some places.
The cold front was due to reach Wellington late last night.
There was not much snow likely for the North Island, though a dusting on the tops of the Tararua Range was not out of the question, Pyselman said.
Snow and heavy rain affected highways all across the South Island yesterday. Road snowfall warnings were issued, starting yesterday morning, for the Dunedin-Waitati Highway, Milford Road, the Crown Range Road and Haast Pass.
MetService reported snow started falling on the Crown Range Road about 9am yesterday. It warned of a chance of heavy snow above 300 metres in Southland and Otago through yesterday.
The heaviest snow was forecast for inland Canterbury, with MetService issuing a warning for up to 25 centimetres above 300 metres in that area for the 25 hours from 1pm yesterday.
It also warned up to 20cm could fall above 400 metres in Marlborough south of Ward today, starting as early as 1am.
Heavy snow was expected to affect areas south of the Rangitata River from yesterday afternoon, then spread further north late afternoon to evening.
Invercargill, Queenstown and Wa¯ naka were expected to drop to minus 1C last night, while Christchurch was expected to drop to 1C and Wellington to 6C, after a day when the temperature was expected to reach a 15C high before the front arrived in the capital.