Weather: Cold snap forces Southerners to scrape ice off their cars - and cows

Southland farmer Anieka Templer captured her cows thawing out in freezing temperatures yesterday morning.

Southerners had to scrape the ice off their cars — and cows — after the coldest morning of the year yesterday.

The coldest spot in Otago and Southland was Wedderburn, which recorded -7.8degC, followed closely by Dunedin Airport at -6.5degC and Shotover Country at -4.9degC.

Meanwhile in Wellington fog is causing disruption for flights this morning.

Wellington Airport is warning travellers there will be delays and potentially cancellations due to the murky conditions.

Anyone with a flight to catch is being told to contact their airline or check live flight information on Wellington Airport's website.

NZTA said the fog is also affecting roads in the capital, especially State Highway 1 north of Johnsonville, the Ngauranga Gorge, the Urban Motorway and State Highway 2 through Petone.

What has happened to Wellington's normally very busy balcony view today? pic.twitter.com/s2uSydK0Vd

— Keith Quinn (@KeithQuinn88) June 22, 2020

MetService meteorologist Lewis Serris said most of the South reached negative temperatures on Sunday night.

A lack of weather fronts moving through the South, combined with clear skies and the longest night of the year , meant temperatures plummeted.

"It was a bit of a recipe for cold temperatures."

Southland farmer Anieka Templer captured her cows thawing out in freezing temperatures yesterday morning.

Dunedin recorded its coldest night of the year so far, below the previous coldest on June 14.

"Central Otago has been on a run of cold temperatures over the past week so it's not new for them.

"In the Deep South it was especially cold — -3degC was average for most of Southland."

He said cold and frosty weather was set to continue, particularly if the sky remained largely cloud-free.
"No real weather systems mean it is set to remain cold, frosty and largely dry.

"This week looks very chilly — there will definitely be more frosts."

Grit trucks were out in force — 82 tonnes of grit was used yesterday, costing about $8700, alongside 6000 litres of calcium magnesium acetate (CMA) costing $3700.

Dunedin City Council transport delivery manager Josh von Pein said CMA was a low-corrosion, biodegradable alternative to road salt, used to reduce ice and snow from forming and bonding to the road, he said.

The council spent $102,500 each winter on patrolling, grit and CMA, he said.

So far this year it had gritted roads on 14 days and applied CMA on seven days.

A police spokeswoman said there were no frost-related crashes on roads yesterday morning.

- Additional reporting, staff reporter