Games on as cold blast gives way to fine day
Mainly clear skies predicted for big sports events in north and south
A cool, frosty morning will be cleared by warmer northerly winds today — with sunshine arriving as a welcome respite for many after snow, hail, thunderstorms and bitterly cold winds swept the country during a week MetService called “one to remember”.
Auckland can expect fine conditions with the chance of a few showers later — while Christchurch is also putting on its finest weather, with a brisk frost giving way to clear skies for the cricket T20 tri-series match between the Blackcaps and Pakistan at the idyllic Hagley Oval.
The second week of the school holidays should be partly cloudy nationwide, MetService forecasts. Much of the country could get rain over the last weekend of the holidays.
Yesterday was fine for most of the country, marking an end to a springtime surprise that brought snow as far north as Taupo¯ on Thursday.
And while snow blanketed the South Island, Aucklanders had their own chilly start yesterday — one of the coldest October mornings since the 1960s.
Auckland Airport’s weather station recorded 3.9C before 7am yesterday — making it the third equal coldest since 1966, MetService meteorologist Peter Little said.
“We’ve had the coldest October morning but it is getting back to normal.”
Little said the wintry weather was due to strong southerly winds bringing air that originated over the Antarctic ice sheet.
“And often this very cold air would be pushed to the east of New Zealand by westerly winds between New Zealand and Antarctica,” he explained.
“The cloud across the region is expected to clear this morning leaving a mostly sunny day.”
But as the frigid weather struck, a national grid emergency yesterday morning sparked a plea to the public to save power by not charging electronic devices and only heating the room they were.
The warning came amid a fault affecting
Lines companies knew what was expected of them and they moved quickly to manage controllable load and reduce demand. No consumers were disconnected.
Alison Andrew, Transpower CEO
the Cook Strait cable that transfers power between the North and South Islands.
Transpower CEO Alison Andrew said staff had worked quickly to maintain system security during the grid emergency.
“Lines companies knew what was expected of them and they moved quickly to manage controllable load and reduce demand. No consumers were disconnected and the system stayed stable throughout.”
Transpower said just before 8.30am that the fault was fixed and the cable had returned to “full operation”.