Weekend weather brings snow

Another low from the Tasman Sea looks set to help fuel heavy snow across the country today and tomorrow. The weather pattern is remarkably similar to Sunday and Monday's weather set up with a warm, moist (hate that word) flow over the North Island a bitterly cold southerly moving up the South Island. It's that cold southerly hitting the warm...moist...air over the north that creates really decent snow falls - and that's what we're going to see today and tomorrow over the upper South Island and central and lower North Island.

It's terrible timing for holidaymakers and hopefully the heaviest snow will fall overnight and be able to be quickly cleared during the early morning. But I think if you're driving anywhere on Friday or Saturday in the following areas you should perhaps have an alternate route planned:
- Canterbury
- Marlborough
- Nelson
- Wairarapa
- Hawkes Bay
- Central Plateau

Can't hurt to just double check weather conditions in those areas before you set off and if it looks a little dodgy look for the nearest 'safe route' to avoid having to spend 2 nights in some rural hall with your only transport a dirty great (and freezing cold) unimog. Even the name unimog would motivate me to find an alternate route. I gotta say though, the men and women in the Army helped out so much this week with rescuing those poor motorists in the North Island - so I'm sure a big thank you on behalf of them will be appreciated. Also a big thank you to Downer EDI Works and everyone else who had to battle about in the horrible weather clearing the roads and putting the power back on - you're the unsung heroes that's for sure.

This next time around there's no excuse to be trapped. I think I upset some of the people in Wellington the other day when I mentioned that the heavy snow caught us all by surprise. To be fair MetService did have a 'watch' out and a warning in place on Sunday - but clearly those warnings were not heard by many people...and if they were I guess there was complacency. A once in a 25 year event allows for that I suppose. This time around MetService's watches have been picked up by the media so hopefully people will be a little more attentive when it comes to getting in to your car and setting off with the whanau back home.

Heavy rain may also affect western parts of New Zealand today, including Auckland, with the odd thunder clap likely over northern centres from this afternoon onwards. Nothing like more weather excitement. August was so quiet weather-wise, as was the start of September. Now it's all going crazy just as we predicted - October often is the ferocious weather month.

WeatherWatch.co.nz will have extensive coverage of the weather over Friday and Saturday and on Sunday we'll be bringing you live Bathurst weather conditions for the V8 Supercars so check it out as we track any showers, thunderstorms or hail storms that may cross over the track!

Have a great weekend - stay warm, drive safe.

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