Big snow for eastern Taihape, frost for Whanganui

A picturesque but chilly scene in Delhi Ave on Monday morning. PHOTO/SUE BEARDSLEE

Ngamatea Station east of Taihape was blanketed with 300-600mm of snow in the weekend.

There is still about a foot on the ground, managing director Renata Apatu said.

He praised MetService for predicting the weather early, giving the station time to prepare.

The power was out and staff got in diesel and had a generator ready. They used a tractor with a large grader blade to move snow off roads, which allowed other tractors to get around with food for the animals

Stock were moved to paddocks where they would cope better, before the snow fell.

"We're feeding out flat out at the moment," Mr Apatu said.

Ngamatea Station is more than 900m above sea level and used to coping with wintry conditions. The weekend's snowfall was not the deepest it has had, he said.

Whanganui escaped the snow but on Monday morning copped the biggest frost of the season so far.

Throughout the city, residents woke to pristine white lawns and had to scrape ice off car windscreens as the air temperature dipped to 0degrees around 6am. It's the first time this year the mercury has dipped to 0degrees.

Inland areas were even colder on Monday morning - Taumarunui dipped to -4degrees and Waiouru to -7degrees.

Whanganui can expect more of the same for much of the week. Overnight temperatures are expected to get close to freezing through to Thursday, with fine, clear weather.