Weather keeps icy grip on roads, high country

Fresh snow covers the Port Hills beyond the domes of the Catholic Cathedral in Christchurch. Picture / Simon Baker

Stretches of central North Island highways remained closed this morning after plummeting temperatures turned snow and rain to ice and made driving treacherous.

State Highway 1 between Taihape and Waiouru, the Desert Road, and the Napier-Taihape roads are all closed this morning by snow. Diversions are in place.

In the South Island, Transit reported icy conditions on many roads and warned drivers to take extreme care. Chains are to be carried on the Te Anau-Milford road.

However, police in Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill said there had been no weather-related problems on roads in their cities.

A polar blast brought snowfalls across the lower North Island yesterday.

The MetService reported snowfalls across the Central Plateau and down to about 400m across the lower North Island. About 2cm of snow was recorded on the Rimutaka Hill Road, and snowfalls were reported in the hills of Hawke's Bay and in Taranaki.

Transit area engineer Alan Burkett said the temperature in Waiouru was expected to plummet as low as minus 6C overnight.

Motorists could detour from the closed highway on to State Highway 4 through Tongariro National Park, but that road required care because of widespread slips recently.

The closed stretches of highway would be monitored through the night, Mr Burkett said. The snow is believed to have passed after the cold front moved through yesterday.

Meanwhile, in Canterbury, farmers still recovering from the devastating June snowstorm were thankful to have missed the worst of the latest blast.

Snow closed high roads on Christchurch's Port Hills and Banks Peninsula for part of yesterday, but sheep farmers on the Canterbury Plains who are in the middle of lambing had no substantial snow.