Snow has blanketed parts of the South Island overnight. Photo / Sharlene McKinley
Snow has blanketed parts of the South Island overnight. Photo / Sharlene McKinley
Large swells and strong winds have stopped ferry sailings across Cook Strait today, as heavy snow falls in the South Island and thunderstorms strike the North Island.
Forecasters have warned of possible flooding in the South Island along with “prolific snowfall amounts” in the coming days, while thunderstorms were slated today for a large stretch of the North Island, including Auckland.
Heavy snow and rain warnings are in place for the South Island, including Dunedin, where snow has been forecast down to 200m.
Mt Hutt skifield in Canterbury posted a video to social media of snow falling yesterday evening with the caption, “Start of a banger [season]?”. The Temple Basin skifield posted a photograph of a fresh coating of snow on Mt Temple, with a caption reading, “white stuff is falling once again. Hallelujah!”
The head of parks at the Remarkables skifield gave an update on the conditions yesterday: “Currently snowing. This storm’s meant to stick around for a few days, after that we’re looking at some really nice weather and some awesome skiing and riding conditions.”
MetService meteorologist Ngaire Wotherspoon told the Herald snowfall could continue after the weather warnings and watches lapse.
“It’s quite a complicated weather situation right now,” Wotherspoon said.
“We do expect those freezing levels to keep dropping and the snow to keep falling.”
Snowfall closed state highways 8 and 80 in the South Island overnight, although State Highway 8 has now partially reopened, according to the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi.
“Further forecast snow may affect state highways and local roads throughout the Canterbury and West Coast region,” NZTA said early this morning.
UPDATE 6:30AM SH8 is now OPEN from Omarama to Lake Pukaki, the road remains CLOSED on SH8/SH80 Pukaki to Fairlie due to snow, and SH80 Lake Pukaki to Mount Cook. ^JP https://t.co/OFLOFlrORU
— NZ Transport Agency - Canterbury & West Coast (@nztacwc) July 29, 2024
Interislander has cancelled the 4.30pm Aratere sailing from Wellington to Picton this afternoon, as well as its 10pm return sailing. The 8.30pm Kaiarahi sailing and its 2.30am return has also been cancelled, as has the 5.30am Aratere sailing tomorrow from Wellington to Picton, and its return journey.
Interislander says the disruption is due to forecast high winds and large swells, with passengers being transferred to the next available sailing.
It says the Marlborough harbourmaster has indicated it’s likely no ferries will be allowed to berth in Picton between 10pm today and 4am tomorrow due to high winds.
It warns there may be further disruptions to sailings if the forecast swells don’t ease.
Bluebridge has not cancelled any sailings but is warning of possible sailing disruption tomorrow.
A dynamic low in the Tasman Sea - featuring a “moisture-rich” cloud band that extends from near Darwin in Australia to New Zealand - is delivering widespread rain and wind this week, forecaster Niwa says.
“Blocking high pressure to the south and north mean that the system will be slow-moving with lots of rain and elevation snow,” Niwa said.
Snow would be heaviest above 500m, with “prolific amounts” expected in the heights of the Southern Alps. “Lesser amounts are likely down to 200m, particularly in Otago.”
Rain was expected to be most persistent in the eastern South Island, including Otago and Canterbury, through Wednesday. Flooding was also possible.
“A slow-moving and heavy band of rain may form over the eastern North Island on Wednesday night,” Niwa said.
So far 16cm of snow has fallen overnight at Mt Cook. Photo / Sharlene McKinley
Severe weather warnings, watches for South Island
A raft of weather warnings and watches have been issued throughout the South Island, including an orange heavy rain warning over North Otago, Dunedin and Clutha, which came into effect at 8pm last night.
The MetService forecast is for up to 55mm of rain to fall through to 3pm today and rain was expected to turn to snow above 200m.
“It’s not often we see persistent rain like this in this part of the country and the area does not need large amounts of rain for impacts to be felt. We could see surface flooding, especially in eastern areas of Dunedin,” said MetService meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane.
The Dunedin City Council last night was warning of damage to trees and powerlines and travel disruption due to surface flooding and slips.
The snow level was expected to lower to 300m to 500m this morning - with potentially large accumulations about eastern Otago.
South Island highways are closed and alpine areas have been blanketed in snow overnight. Photo / Sharlene McKinley
Motorists using the Lindis Pass (SH8), Milford Road (SH94), and Crown Range Rd - where as much as 15cm of snow was possible in places above 700m - were also urged to take care.
“This is expected to be a wide-reaching snow event, especially for farmers and road users,” Makgabutlane said.
Niwa said snow would continue in the South Island into Thursday.
Severe gales gusting up to 120km/h are also expected for Westland, Grey and Fiordland regions, with the potential to damage trees, powerlines and unsecured structures. These warnings will remain in effect until Wednesday.
Heavy rain for North Island, thunderstorms possible
Thunderstorms were expected to develop across a swathe of the country over the course of the day, starting with a moderate risk for Buller, western Tasman, Taranaki, and Waitomo this morning, MetService says.
“These thunderstorms may be accompanied by localised heavy rain with intensities of 10 to 20mm per hour.”
Northland and down to the west of the North Island are also at a lower risk of thunderstorms this morning.
The risk increases for the North Island during the afternoon and evening, with Northland, Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula, western Waikato, Waitomo and Taranaki as well as the western Bay of Plenty all at moderate risk through to tonight. Western Tasman is also at moderate risk of thunderstorms this afternoon.
Moderate thunderstorm risk this afternoon and evening for a stretch of the North Island. Image / MetService
Heavy rain of 15-25mm per hour could fall in some areas.
MetService said while rain is on the cards for much of the country this week, the wettest weather was expected in the east of both the North and the South Islands.
“This is a developing situation, and although it’s all happening in the South Island during the early part of the week, it’ll be a good idea for people in the eastern North Island to also have a close eye on the forecast,” Makgabutlane said.
