MetService has issued a heavy rain watch for Waitomo, Taumarunui, Taupo, Taihape and northern Taranaki from midnight Friday until midnight Saturday.
Forecaster Lewis Ferris said there was a potential for the watch to be upgraded to a warning.
However, he said there could be a chance more widespread rain could be on the cards for the rest of the North Island outside of the current watch areas.
“[Waitomo, Taumarunui, Taupo, Taihape and northern Taranaki] denote the areas of the country that would see the largest volume of rain,” he said.
“The warmer moist air comes in and is on top of the cold air beneath.”
Heavy snowfall across the Southern Canterbury High Country and inland Otago caused widespread disruption, power outages and chaos for drivers yesterday.
Heavy snow fall in Queenstown on Friday morning. Photo / Dhariwal Harpreet
Queenstown’s Wakatipu High School and Alexandra’s Dunstan High School closed for the day due to the weather conditions.
About 6.45am, the Queenstown Lakes District Council said the Crown Range Rd was closed by snow, while snow and ice closed SH6 Haast to Makarora, SH85 Kyeburn to Omakau, SH85 Palmerston to Kyeburn and SH94 Te Anau to Milford Sound.
The South Island field has had more than 30cm of fresh snow at the base and upwards of 50cm at the top over the past 48 hours. The field opened in the morning but closed again when temperatures rapidly increased, posing an avalanche risk.
Snow falling in Queenstown on Friday morning. Photo / Dhariwal Harpreet
As a result, ski patrollers closed the road, trapping those who remained on the mountain.
Max Coombes, 20, said he was on the field at the time.
“We were probably stuck up there for about an hour ... there would have been hundreds, maybe about 500 people stuck with us, I reckon,” he said.
Coombes said the patrollers closed the road while they worked to clear the snow and manage avalanche risks.
