KEY POINTS:
Dunedin and Christchurch residents woke to snow this morning as sleety showers moved north.
The MetService reported that it was only 1 degree this morning at the Dunedin airport.
But the weather was improving with the southwesterlies predicted to die off, leaving Dunedinites bathed in sunshine at least until Friday.
Meanwhile in Canterbury, a further 3 to 5cm was expected to hit the Port Hills and the Banks Peninsula where the Christchurch City Council has reported roads closed.
While showers were predicted to clear today it was still very cold with the potential for snow as low as 100 metres along the South Island's east coast.
Transit warned drivers of the possibility of black ice in the Canterbury and Southern region this morning. State Highway 87, between Outram and Middlemarch, has been closed due to snow and Arthurs Pass has also been affected by delays.
A slip blocking access to Christchurch through Lyttelton Tunnel for an hour this morning, forcing traffic to take alternative routes, has been cleared.
A Christchurch City Council spokesman said weeks of rain and the odd dousing of snow had left soil saturated and prone to slips.
Travellers faced treacherous conditions on alternative routes which had been closed due to snow and ice earlier in the day.
North Island
MetService Forecaster Ian Miller said the North Island's central plateau was due for another dumping down to 500 metres this morning.
But a MetService forecast released this afternoon said snow showers were clearing on the Rimutaka and Desert roads.
There were also reports of snow in Paekakariki, north of Wellington, this morning but Mr Miller said although temperatures dropped to 4 degrees overnight and 1 degree briefly this morning, the reports were likely false.
"It was just hail. It's probably quite low in the hills but you can't get snow (beyond) a few wet flakes at that temperature. Nothing that would settle," Mr Miller said.
Kapiti mayor Jenny Rowan lives in Paekakariki and said a heavy hail storm looked like snow as it melted on the ground.
"It was very cold but it definitely looked like snow and felt like snow and was very cold," she said.
Staff at Ruapehu's ski fields have been kept busy looking out for avalanche risks and working to dig many of their lifts and buildings out, straining under the weight of huge snowfalls.
- NZPA AND NZHERALD STAFF
