Residents have been unable to leave their houses in Wellington, NZ
The polar blast that closed roads and cut power to thousands of homes continues to hold a tight grip on the country with more heavy snow expected this evening – but the end is in sight.
The freezing weather sweeping up New Zealand has brought snow to winterless Northland, broken Auckland’s record coldest temperature, and caused chaos around the country.
Residents have been unable to leave their houses in Christchurch and Wellington today as the roads were too unsafe to drive on, and public transport has been severely hit. Travellers have been stranded at airports as some flights were cancelled, particularly in Christchurch and Queenstown where the airports were closed for part of the day.
John Key called on employers to be compassionate to workers who were snowed in, and said the timing of the weather was “slightly lucky” as farmers were just beginning lambing season.
“If there is a whole lot of snow and ice and you can’t get out of your driveway then you’d expect employers to take a generous view towards that,” Key said.
Mail will not be delivered for a second day in some parts of the country, and the entire lower North Island will miss the post today.
Mount Tutamoe, just north of Dargaville, was dusted with snow this morning.
Tramper Viv Trounson said the snow on the summit was two inches thick when he made an early morning trek. He was about 1900 feet up the mount when it started and he said snow fell steadily for around an hour.
“The snowflakes were as big as 20c pieces,” he said. ” It was absolutely wonderful, it was beautiful.”
Jaime Melanson, who lives in Mahuta Gap just south of Dargaville, said the snow was accompanied by wind gusts of 111kmh at 8am.
RECORD COLD
The polar blast that closed roads and cut power to thousands of homes continues to hold a tight grip on the country.
While more heavy snow expected this evening, forecasters say the end is in sight.
Travellers were stranded at airports as some flights were cancelled, however Christchurch and Queenstown airports have now reopened.
MetService spokesman Bob McDavitt said the icy southerly causing havoc across the country was expected to strengthen again later today, before gradually easing from late Wednesday.
“While more snow is likely, the end is in sight. It’s still a few days away though.”
He said snow showers in Canterbury and Marlborough were expected to spread north to reach the central North Island tonight, with snow falling to about 400 metres.
More wild weather has already reached Wellington this afternoon with snow reported in city suburbs. A further 15 to 30cm snow was expected in near the capital this evening. Severe wind chill to coastal areas between Canterbury, Wellington and the Wairarapa was also forecast.
The heaviest snow was expected in Canterbury, with 15-30cm at lower levels and 30-60cm above 300m.
But New Zealanders had good news to look forward to – MetService said the temperature would creep up by about one degree each day until the end of the week.
It’s been a cold few days for many in parts of the country as the winter storm set icy records in Auckland and
Wellington where snow fell for the first time in nearly half a century.
Mount Tutamoe, just north of Dargaville, was also dusted with snow this morning.
Tramper Viv Trounson said the snow on the summit was two inches (5cm) thick when he made an early morning trek.
He was about 1900 feet up the mount when it started and he said snow fell steadily for around an hour.
“The snowflakes were as big as 20c pieces,” he said. ” It was absolutely wonderful, it was beautiful.”
Climate scientist Georgina Griffiths, of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), said yesterday was the coldest day in Auckland since records began in 1961.
The temperature at the airport reached 8.1 degrees Celsius – compared with the previous lowest high of 8.7C, on July 4, 1996.
While at the Wellington Airport the temperature got to 6.8C making it the second coldest day there since records began in 1959, the first being 6.5C on June 21, 1976.
NIWA also confirmed a large number of record low August maximum temperatures yesterday, particularly in North Island locations.
At Tauranga’s airport, the mercury fell to 8.9C – its lowest since 1941. Temperatures dropped to 3.5C in Martinborough – the lowest in August since 1986 and in Waiouru the mercury fell to -1.0C, the lowest since 1972.
In Palmerston North temperatures fell to 6.2C – the lowest August temperature since 1940, and in Hamilton, the mercury dropped to 6.8C, the second coldest day in August since 1940. Gisborne also recorded its second lowest temperature since 1940 at 8.2C.
TREACHEROUS CONDITIONS
Many state highways around New Zealand were closed this morning, including the Desert Road and Rimutaka Hill road in the North Island and the Lewis Pass and Arthurs Pass in the South Island.
Police have warned of treacherous driving conditions as the snow would turn to ice, which has already seen one car slide off the road on the southbound lane near the Tawa off ramp this morning.
Conditions in the northern hill suburbs of Wellington remained hazardous with 24 hours of snow now frozen on the ground.
The Transport Agency was liaising with police to get the slush swept off roads, and grit poured over the worst-hit places to give more traction.
These include the Ngauranga Gorge, State Highway One near Otaki, Levin and Manakau, and State Highway 56 near the Longburn overbridge where numerous cars were reported to have slid off the road.
Mail was not be delivered for a second day in some parts of the country, and the entire lower North Island missed the post today.
Many children stayed at home as some school in Wellington and all schools in Christchurch were closed. And bus services were disrupted in both cities.
About 1000 homes were without power in Lincoln, Rakaia, Greendale and West Melton. Power was also out to 420 homes in Upper Hutt and about 350 homes in South Taranaki, Whanganui, Manawatu and Wairarapa.
The worst was not over with residents in the lower North Island being warned that more power cuts were expected today.
Aftermath News 
