Hawke's Bay's vineyards became ski fields yesterday, as the polar blast left a dumping of snow across the region.
In southern and central Hawke's Bay, the snow blocked roads, stopped mail delivery and frustrated farmers feeding out to stock.
At Lime Rock Wines in Waipawa, Rodger Tynan resorted to checking
his property on skis.
"I have some cross-country skis so we went out this [yesterday] morning and checked the vineyard out," he said. "It was a bit hard when you hit a bare patch, the skis came to a pretty abrupt halt."
Mr Tynan said it had previously snowed on surrounding hills, but he'd never seen snow on the vines before. While there would be no impact on grapes, "it's pretty unpleasant to work out there," he said.
Dannevirke dairy farmers Paul and Lisa Charmley received about 10cm of snow, leading to a cold day feeding out to stock, Mrs Charmley said.
"It was quite a covering we had, starting from about half-past seven on Sunday night," she said. "We had lots of notice so we knew it was coming."
In Dannevirke, Glenda Graham said daughter Taylor enjoyed making a snowman in the 5cm snowfall. This morning it was still "very, very cold", but most of the snow had melted.
The Napier-Taupo Rd and State Highway 2 through Dannevirke were open this morning, after being closed yesterday due to snow.
NZTA spokesman Gordon Hart said only SH2 between Wairoa and Gisborne remained closed this morning because of ice.
"Right now the graders can't even get into the ice because it's too heavy," he said.
The Napier-Taihape Rd would be closed because of snow until at least lunchtime today.
Road closures stopped mail being delivered in Hawke's Bay and Wairoa yesterday, as trucks were stopped at Dannevirke.
Metservice forecaster Stephen Glassey said the Ruahine Ranges had sheltered central and northern Hawke's Bay from the worst of the polar blast.
"Most of the snow we're seeing has been prompted by a cold westerly. With Hawke's Bay being on the east coast and sheltered by the ranges, you won't see the amount of cold wind and snow seen by the rest of the country," Mr Glassey said.
But a severe weather warning has been issued for tonight, with 10-20cm of snow predicted above 400m. "Lower lying areas could potentially get a very light dusting as well," he said.
