Storms ease but frosty mornings ahead

The country is in for a respite from storms and snowfalls but the price for clear skies and sunshine will be frosty mornings.

A high pressure system extended over much of the country yesterday although Wellington and Gisborne got showers and more are forecast for eastern parts of the North Island today.

Snow is possible in the Gisborne ranges again today but probably above 800m.

For the rest, the weather should be fine, with clear skies and light winds - and frosts until Thursday, when a weak trough will bring showers to much of the North Island and snow to low levels in Southland, Otago and Canterbury.

Yesterday it was Gisborne's turn to pick itself up after a weekend of heavy snow, rain and winds that brought down trees and powerlines and caused a giant mudslide on State Highway 2.

The mudslide, estimated at 150 truckloads, blocked the road near Te Karaka, north of the city, until yesterday afternoon when some vehicles were allowed through before it was closed again last night.

Farmer Jane McCready was convinced her son had been caught in the slide, which slammed into the family's woolshed.

"I looked out and I could see the trees going over by the shearing shed and I just screamed to my husband that Jake was in the shearing shed and we just took off," she said.

Their son made it to safety but two farm dogs took longer to emerge from the wrecked shed.

Traffic would be allowed through today from 8am on the hour, every hour, said Transit New Zealand network operations manager Gordon Hart.

The Waikaremoana-Murupara highway, SH38, was snowbound and two men were trapped in their vehicle for three nights.

A group of 44 teenage scouts and outdoor education students were cold and tired after a marathon trek out of the Panekiri Range near Lake Waikaremoana on Sunday.

They had spent the night in the well-equipped Panekiri Hut but made "a collective decision" to walk out, a tramp that should have taken four hours.

It took nine.

"They would have been better to stay put and we would have gotten to them when conditions improved," said Department of Conservation spokesman Glenn Mitchell.

Reports that DoC had closed tracks around the lake were incorrect.

"People should still come although tramping times might be a little longer," he said.