Snow in the Bay! Flurries and power outages as cold blast sweeps up country

Snow flurries fell in Mamaku today as the Antarctic blast sweeping up the country reached Bay of Plenty.

Power was also cut to hundreds of customers in the Mamaku and Hamurana area.

Mamaku School principal Garry Veysi said there was a snow flurry on the school grounds at around 11.30am.

Excited students were released from class to play in the snow, he said.

"We had a bit of a flurry, there isn't snow on the ground or anything like that. It was quite exciting.

"It is definitely colder, but the kids are still outside playing handball so it can't be that cold."

Power remained on at the school.

According to Unison, 382 customers lost power in the Mamaku, Hamurana and Ngatira area just after midday. Crews found a line down and repaired it, restoring power mid-afternoon.

Although temps at midday are mostly in the mid-single digits for much of NZ, things will feel much colder - that's all down to the wind chill effect brought on by the strong winds🥶

See https://t.co/Yjbq0jxdqz for what temps feel like in your town ^MM pic.twitter.com/CF3bTGvz5V

— MetService (@MetService) June 29, 2021

Unison spokesman Danny Gough said 83 customers had their power restored not long after the intital outage but he could not confirm the cause of the outage.

A Waikite Valley Thermal Pools staff member also confirmed sleet had fallen in the Waikite area.

Waikite Valley School deputy principal Lisa Dinning said sleet fell at around 11am, but there was no snowfall on school grounds.

Students remained inside during their breaks today as it was "absolutely freezing" and quite windy, she said.

UPDATE 10:30AM, TUE 29 JUN
SH4 National Park to Tohunga Junction (Ohakune) is now OPEN, but SH1 Desert Rd remains CLOSED with a detour via SH4 National Park. Please drive to the winter conditions on the detour route by slowing down and allowing greater following distances. ^IF pic.twitter.com/sBGXjLaCVx

— Waka Kotahi NZTA Central North Island (@WakaKotahiCNI) June 28, 2021

Power remained on at the school.

An Antarctic blast is sweeping up the country bringing freezing temperatures, dumping snow and grounding Air New Zealand flights.

Snow has also been falling in Wellington and Taranaki this morning and the Desert Rd remains closed, made impassable by the stormy weather. Snow has also started falling on the Napier-Taupo highway.

More to come.