Mataikona Beach resident Marie Clement says she has never seen settled snow this deep on the beach before.
Mrs Clement forwarded her Thursday morning photo to the Times-Age, describing 12cm of snow at some points on the beach.
It was snowing heavily when she took the shot. "That was taken at 8am in the morning, and even at low tide, there was snow down at the rock pools."
She said the windy morning and the "stinging snow" had made it feel like a survival scene.
"I can remember it snowing here before, about eight years ago, but it was only a dusting - nothing like the coverage [on Thursday]."
