Snow freezes on South Island roads

Julia Schultze's dad Mark gives her a tow in West Melton near Christchurch. Picture / Simon Baker

Ice was today the major problem for drivers in the South Island after yesterday's snow fall froze overnight.

Dunedin police said there was some snow in the city earlier this morning, which has since frozen, leaving city streets treacherous.

Snow forced the closure of the city's northern motorway and State Highway 1 to Waitati was also closed. Some bus services were affected. There have been no reports of accidents so far.

Further north, schools in Palmerston have been closed and a number of other Dunedin schools have delayed starts.

Electricity lines companies from South Canterbury to North Canterbury said contractors were working flat out in rural communities to try to restore power to as many properties as possible.

About 10,000 electricity consumers throughout the province were still without power today and many isolated properties might have to wait a few more days yet before full services were restored.

An Alpine Energy spokeswoman said this morning that about 2500 properties in rural areas around Timaru were still without power.

Electricity Ashburton operations manager Ken Stirling said about 6000 properties were waiting to be reconnected in Mid Canterbury.

Power to most of the Ashburton area and Methven had been restored last night and contractors were concentrating today on repairing main feeder lines and substations.

"It's very unlikely that everyone will be back on tonight," Mr Stirling said. Some rural customers might have to wait a few more days.

Conditions in Timaru were also described as very dangerous. Timaru police said conditions were now clear and calm, but there had been a "massive" frost.

"There is a lot of black ice around Timaru. We are advising everyone to take extreme caution and only travel if necessary."

Police in Christchurch said city roads were reasonably dry and frost free, but urged care in areas where some deposits of snow remains.

Several businesses and schools are expected to remain closed today.

A number of roads in Canterbury remain closed and an avalanche warning has been issued for Mt Cook after a huge snow dump.

The freezing weather moved north overnight with snow on the Desert Road which remained open this morning.

The MetService said more snow was expected in the South Island, but not to the same extent as yesterday.

It is under fire from Canterbury farmers for failing to warn of heavy snow to sea level -- until there was already half a metre lying on the ground.

"We were told there was a fast-moving front heading north and some rain, but there was never mention of snow, particularly down the low levels," Winchmore farmer Rupert Curd told the Press newspaper.

Mr Curd said stock losses should be minimal because farmers had yet to begin calving or lambing. However, some woolsheds and shelter belts had collapsed under the weight of the snow.

MetService forecaster Allister Gorman said the service was not "entirely happy" with its predictions. "It did sneak under the radar a bit. We would hope to do better than this."

The service first warned up to 15cm of snow could fall to 300m in South Canterbury, with lighter falls to 200m on Sunday evening.

However yesterday morning about 15cm of snow covered the roads south of Christchurch, trapping several motorists and trucks.

MetService forecaster Bob McDavitt said today the worst of the storm was over.

The amount of snow to such low levels came as a surprise.

"The low itself is now moving away, taking away all its clouds, although there is now a small cold front moving across the North Island and will be bringing some showers and also some snow to the Central Plateau."

Mr McDavitt said the Chatham Islands were experiencing gale force winds as the low moved over sea.

The weather for the rest of the week was expected to be settled, but it would take a while for the temperatures to return to normal.

- NZPA, NEWSTALK ZB