More than 1400 lightning strikes across country overnight

MetService says there has been more than 1400 lightning strikes across the country overnight. Meanwhile, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has called an end to the state of emergency for the city that was declared on Tuesday.

No weather warnings are currently in place for the Auckland region, but short bursts of showers and thunderstorms are expected.

Brown said he was grateful for the effort of those who contributed to the emergency response.

Meteorologist Lisa Murray said 1300 of the lightning strikes were in the North Island overnight, while the South Island had 112.

There had been a lot of active or very convective weather across the country which meant thunderstorms were more likely, she said.

"West Auckland has a line [of showers] coming into it, so they are going to have some heavy showers ... and another line coming into Northland. So it is that kind of flow that we're going to get today."

Auckland Emergency Management advised anyone caught outside during a lightning storm to get indoors immediately, if in a vehicle stay there with the windows wound up, and in the bush find an area protected by a low clump of trees.

Never stand beneath a single large tree in the open and avoid tall structures, open and exposed places and objects in metallic contact with the ground, it said.

MetService has lifted its heavy snow watches for Canterbury, Otago and Southland, but said further snow showers were likely above 400 metres south of Queenstown until early Thursday afternoon.

In the North Island, a snowfall warning is in place for the Desert Road until 5pm on Thursday.

Meteorologist Andrew James said temperatures were a few degrees colder than average for this time of year.

But he said the recent warm weather would make it feel even chillier.

"In terms of where people live the coldest station we've had last night was at St Arnaud near Lake Rotoiti in Mountain Lakes, so that got down to 0.1C, but we did record minus 3 at the top of the Crown Range Road."

With the lower temperatures, there were also hail showers in central Wellington and Auckland this morning.

Murray earlier said there was a moderate risk of some decent rainfall in parts of the North Island throughout the day, but that would ease in Christchurch which was hit by heavy rainfall this morning.

The good news was that there was a high pressure system forecast to arrive this weekend which would bring much more settled weather with just a few showers around the country, she said.

This morning, Murray said there had been 20mm of rain over three hours in Christchurch but it would ease off and move over Banks Peninsula later on today.

There was some snowfall in parts of the country, but it was only sticking to the ground in higher inland areas, Murray told Morning Report.

"So we do have snow about the Homer Tunnel, the Crown Range, the Desert Road, so those sort of places have had a good dusting of snow but the ground has been warm enough that anything lower than that has melted away."

Queenstown Lakes District Council said that Crown Range Road reopened about 11am after being closed overnight, but said drivers must carry chains and should expect conditions to change quickly with more snow forecast.

Motorists warned roads may be icy

A cold snap has prompted warnings about icy roads throughout the country.

Waka Kotahi said snow had closed State Highway 1 from Rangipo to Waiouru (Desert Road) and SH46 from Tongariro to Rangipo.

MetService has also issued a road snowfall warning for the Desert Road saying snow showers are expected to continue on Thursday morning and around 1cm of snow may accumulate on the road near the summit.

Waka Kotahi network operations manager Tresca Forrester said until now there had not been enough sustained low temperatures to allow the snow and ice to settle.

"Ice is definitely a big factor so people should definitely watch out, particularly for shaded areas on the road this morning and just not brake suddenly."

There were also still a number of roads where only single lanes were open across the North Island roading network following the storm earlier this week, she said.

The thunderstorms overnight had not caused further damage to the network, she said.

"I don't think we experienced any issues there overnight, there was obviously some short impacts overnight but I think we've come through it okay this morning."

In Auckland, Waka Kotahi said the Harbour Bridge was only operating with four lanes in each direction during this morning's peak travel due to strong wind gusts.

Auckland Transport said that due to the adverse weather all Te Onewa Northcote Point services will operate by taxi until mid-afternoon.

The Crown Range, which links Queenstown and Wānaka, is closed due to snow.

The Queenstown Lakes District Council said contractors were spreading grit over the road, but it was still snowing in the area.

The alternative route between the towns meant going through Cromwell on State Highway 6.

Forrester said South Island drivers should be wary of snowy or icy conditions in Southland and Otago.

"We have had snowfall through Southland, central Otago and up through the Lewis Pass - we did have a short closure on State Highway 7 through the Lewis Pass overnight but it has reopened."

The key message was that motorists who were setting off around the country this morning should check Waka Kotahi's website before leaving, she said.

Queenstown Airport reminded travellers to keep an eye on their flight times because the bad weather was causing some delays.

A flight from Auckland to Queenstown was diverted last night due to the conditions.

On Thursday morning, the airport said that had resulted in two cancellations but there had only been minor delays so far.

Snow good news for South Island skifield operators

The snowfall is encouraging news for Cardrona and Treble Cone skifield operators.

Spokesperson Laura Hedley said it snowed quite heavily overnight, particularly at Cardrona.

"It was a bit of a mission for the team to get up there this morning, there was about 30cm of snow on the road but they're up there and there's a lot of snow, a lot of wind drift and it's very cold."

It was still early but every little bit of snow helped, she said.

Skifield operators were now hoping the ground freezes a little bit as they plan to start their snow making from next week, she said.

The plan was to open Cardrona on 17 June and Treble Cone on 24 June, she said.

The weather patterns seemed to be shifting into a south-west flow which was good news for the skifields.

Staffing no longer seemed to be a problem and the number of applications were back to 2019 levels which meant everything could be opened, she said.

The increasing cost of living was a consideration, she said.

"We know that we're a bit of a luxury sport to be able to do, but we saw in the Covid times that people still love to ski because it's a thing you do with your family and your friends and just being out in the mountains is good for the soul."