Weather: ‘Fair bit of snow’ building in parts of South Island, power outages reported

By RNZ

Parts of the South Island are in for some snow today and while some reports suggest that Auckland could see snow next week, that prospect is unlikely.

Canterbury high country and inland Otago are bracing for heavy snowfall on Friday morning, with orange warnings in place.

MetService said up to 25cm of snow is forecast to settle above 600m in Otago, and up to 20cm in Canterbury, south of the Rakaia river.

Snow falling in Queenstown on Friday morning. Photo / Dhariwal Harpreet

Meanwhile, an orange heavy rain warning is in place for Westland until noon, and snow warnings in place until 3pm.

MetService meteorologist John Law told RNZ’s Morning Report there was a “fair bit of snow” already coming through on the webcams on Crown Range Rd and at Queenstown Airport.

Moisture resulting from the cold air and slow-moving front made for the “perfect conditions” for snow to continue piling up throughout the day.

Law said the heaviest snowfall expected was up to 25cm in inland parts of Otago.

“That’s still high enough to run across the passes, say the Crown Range Rd, places like the Lindis Pass as we head further north as well, that snow moves up into places like Arthur’s and Porters Pass. so well worth keeping that in mind if you’re planning your journey across those higher passes of the South Island today.”

Snowfall in some central Otago towns is causing power outages.

Parts of the South Island are in for some snow today and while some reports suggest that Auckland could see snow next week, that prospect is unlikely. File photo / George Heard

About 1100 homes in Alexandra are without power, according to the Aurora Energy website.

There are also 850 homes without power near Lauder, almost 800 homes without power around Cromwell, and 650 homes are without power near Clyde.

Aurora said crews are investigating the outage.

Meanwhile, Canterbury could see snow up on the foothills and higher areas – but it was likely to be wetter than anything on the plains.

And in response to reports that Auckland could see snow next week?

Law said next week would see “good, strong southwesterlies” and cold air being pushed up the country.

Snow may be seen on the Desert Rd and central plateau but not Auckland.

“I think next week is going to be a reminder that spring is a fairly volatile season with the weather changing pretty quickly.”

- RNZ

Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.