Worst of weather past

Forecasters today said the worst of the week's weather was now past and any more snow was likely to stay in the high country.

Earlier in the week Canterbury was blanketed in snow with Christchurch virtually shut down on Monday.

Some hill suburb bus services in Christchurch remained off the road yesterday and ice was the main problem on the roads.

Further north, main highways through the central North Island were shut for hours on end as the southerly front swept through the country bringing severe storms to parts of Northland.

But today all highways in the country were open again with some snow still around the central plateau and parts of Otago and Southland.

MetService forecaster Raveen Das said there had been little in the way of snow overnight. "There's a front moving up the South Island and we expect some snow out of it over the high country but not in big amounts."

The front would probably travel out to the east and miss the North Island. "The real stormy stuff we had is all gone now," Mr Das said.

- NZPA