The North Island is being warned to brace for snow and strong winds as a winter storm hitting New Zealand moves up the country.
MetService has issued a heavy snow watch for Taihape and north parts of Whanganui and Manawatu from 11am to 9pm today and has extended a strong wind watch for Auckland, Great Barrier Island and Coromandel until 6pm.
Meanwhile, snow has closed many South Island roads and is causing flight delays at Queenstown Airport.
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Lanes were closed briefly at 6.20am and reopened at 6.35am due to the severe wind gusts.
State highways and alpine passes are closed in the North and South Islands, while speed restrictions and lane closures are possible for Auckland’s Harbour Bridge.
Power cuts have been reported as temperatures plummet with the front bringing freezing air from the deep south.
The bridge speed limit is also down to 50km/h and forecasters are expecting winds of up to 100km/h.
The transport agency is encouraging motorists to drive to the conditions, to watch for electronic message boards that will indicate lane closures and decreased speeds, and to keep inside their lane when crossing the bridge. High-sided vehicles and motorcyclists should be especially careful.
Potentially heavy showers are in store for Auckland this morning, turning to squally thunderstorms and hail in the afternoon. MetService expects them to ease in the evening.
Auckland, including Great Barrier Island and the Coromandel Peninsula, will be under a strong wind watch from 1pm to 6pm. The weather forecasting agency warns west to southwest winds may approach severe gale force at times, gusting up to 100km/h.
Winds are predicted to build up again between 10am and 7pm, and the Harbour Bridge will be reconfigured with four lanes in each direction.
High-sided vehicle drivers and motorcyclists are urged to avoid the Auckland Harbour Bridge at these hours and instead take the western ring route on State Highways 16 and 18.
Snow storms continue at the other end of the country, while strong wind watches are in place for Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne/Tairāwhiti, the Canterbury Plains and Banks Peninsula, beginning this morning.
A number of troughs will move northwards throughout the country in a strong-to-gale southwest flow during the morning, bringing more thunderstorms to parts of the North Island.
Thunderstorms are possible from Westland to Waitomo, though the probability decreases after Westland around daybreak. These thunderstorms may deliver torrential rain, tiny hail and 90km/h wind gusts.
Thunderstorms are expected to be widespread across the western and northern regions of the North Island, from Manawatu to Northland and across to the eastern Bay of Plenty.
Coastal sections of Wairarapa and the Māhia Peninsula are also at risk of thunderstorms. A broad low risk of thunderstorms persists across most of the remaining North Island, as well as Banks Peninsula and eastern Otago in the afternoon.
According to a MetService spokesman, a deep low with embedded fronts was anticipated to move eastwards overnight last night, just to the south of the South Island, followed by a strong and cold southwest shift bringing periods of heavy rain, strong winds and snow to low levels.
Snow is expected to impair all main highways, including Dunedin’s Northern Motorway (State Highway 1 to Waitati) for around four hours beginning at 9am.
The Crown Range Rd, which connects Queenstown and Wānaka, was blocked by snow around 12.30pm yesterday.
Forecasters predicted up to 10cm of snow could fall on the road above 700m yesterday, and it was expected to snow again today. The Crown Range was additionally inaccessible from SH6 near Arrow Junction.
