Heavy snow risk for central North Island, parts of South Island, gales in north

Wednesday, 8 July 2020

The South Island needs to prepare for snow, the North Island for wind.

Snow has fallen to low levels in Southland during Wednesday and heavy falls are possible about Banks Peninsula overnight and around Taihape through to about 9pm.

Strong, chilly south to southwest winds, with the strongest gusts in the north, have kept temperatures down across the country.

MetService was warning heavy snow could fall from mid-afternoon to 600 metres in the Taihape area and to 300m on Wednesday evening about Banks Peninsula. Snow showers falling to 300m in Southland and Otago were expected until evening.

Constable Dwight Grieve advises motorists that State Highway 94 at the Key, between Te Anau and Mossburn, was being closed to all two-wheel drive-vehicles because of dangerous conditions on the Gorge Hill on Wednesday morning.

There are also warnings winds could approach severe gale strength during Wednesday from Waikato and western Bay of Plenty north.

* Weather: 'Flip flop' forecast on the cards with 'smorgasbord' of weather incoming

Snow falling just south of Waiouru on Wednesday afternoon.

* Snow expected for Canterbury as 'wintry' conditions set in

* Hail shower in Auckland, with more to come**

Westerlies could gust to 110kmh in exposed parts of Northland and Auckland, to 100kmh in Waikato, and Bay of Plenty west of Papamoa, and 90kmh on Coromandel Peninsula, MetService said.

MetService meteorologist Angus Hines said gusts up to 131kmh were recorded at Cape Reinga on Wednesday morning, with 103kmh at the Hokianga Harbour, 81kmh at Auckland Airport from 2-3pm, and 89kmh in Golden Valley at the southern end of the Coromandel Peninsula.

Hamilton Airport had a 56kmh gust, Wellington Airport 74kmh and Mt Kaukau in Wellington 105kmh. Le Bons Bay on Banks Peninsula had a 108kmh gust, Lyttelton 72kmh and Dunedin Airport 67kmh, Hines said about 4.30pm.

Are you getting snow? Send your pictures and videos to newstips@stuff.co.nz.

Te Anau Farmer Dave Baker feeds out his sheep after early morning snow.

Temperatures stayed low across the country, with the warmest being 14.6 degrees Celsius at Gisborne. The maximum for Auckland was 12.2C in the hour to 2pm.

'It's to do with the origin of the air. We have that almost due southerly flow across the country,' Hines said. The air originated from far to the south and combined with a lack of sunshine in many places, which meant there wasn't much heating.

Late Wednesday afternoon, the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) was advising caution because of snow and ice on SH94 from Te Anau to Lumsden in Southland, and on SH6 from Lumsden to Kingston.

In Otago it was advising caution because of winter driving conditions on SH87 from Outram to Kyeburn, and on SH1 from Dunedin to Palmerston.

In the North Island, NZTA was urging caution because of snow on the Desert Road, and on the Napier-Taupo Road.

Around 4pm Wednesday, NZTA said winter weather conditions remained unchanged on the Desert Road.

Hail fell in West Auckland on Wednesday afternoon.

Snow showers were expected to turn heavier during the afternoon with 5-10cm expected on the Desert Road and up to 1cm on the Napier-Taupo Road between 4pm and 9pm.

MetService has also issued a snowfall warning for Remutaka Hill on State Highway 2. Snow showers were forecast overnight and Thursday morning, NZTA said the road may accumulate 1-2 cm of snow near the summit between 2am and 9am.

Rain also caused surface flooding on SH1 at Porirua around lunchtime.

The Queenstown Lakes District Council tweeted that snow had fallen on the summit of the Crown Range Rd.

Crews were working to plough and grit the road, it said. Vehicles using the route should carry chains.

Snow was also reported to have started falling in Queenstown.

Further north, West Auckland was hit with a brief hail shower, accompanied by strong winds and heavy rain at midday.

On Wednesday afternoon, at least 25,000 Aucklanders were in the dark after a power cut.

Transpower spokeswoman Deborah Gray said the outages had affected homes and business in Warkworth, Wellsford, Kaiwaka, Maungaturoto, Ruawai and the Mangawhai areas.

While she couldn't confirm specifically what caused the outages, she said the wild weather was a contributing factor.

Thursday is expected to be an improvement, with showers clearing overnight or on Thursday from most places, although some snow could fall to 400m for a time on Thursday in central and lower parts of the North Island.