New Zealand / Weather

Weather: Road snowfall warnings continue in South Island

21:41 pm on 17 September 2024

Snow at Arthur's Pass on 19 August. Photo: Forest & Bird/Geoff Keey

Road snowfall warnings are in place in parts of the South Island as more snow is due to fall.

It follows a wintry and windy start to the week, with heavy snow falling in the South Island and heavy rain and wind gusts for the North Island.

Severe wind gusts of up to 120km/h were possible on Tuesday evening, and many areas in Auckland, Northland and Coromandel lost power.

Roads were closed in the South Island due to snow.

Snow in Methven on Tuesday. Photo: Supplied / Marilyn Gilchrist

Wednesday would see more road snowfall warnings, this time on Arthur's Pass and Milford Road.

MetService's warning for Arthur's Pass was in place from 9am until 3pm with one or two centimetres of snow possibly accumulating above 800 metres.

The Milford Road warning was in place from 2am until 10am with between two and five centimetres possible above 600 metres.

In a video forecast, MetService meteorologist John Law said much of the rain would clear overnight into Wednesday but some "brisk" southwesterly winds would remain on the western side of the country.

Cloud and showers were expected for parts of the South Island, including Westland and Fiordland.

"But for many of us, what we'll find through the night time will be clear skies and cold temperatures," Law said.

Heading into the early hours of Wednesday, Law said many parts of the North Island would be below zero degrees, including Hamilton.

Throughout the rest of the day, sunny weather was expected for the Bay of Plenty, as well as Nelson and Canterbury.

However, any exposed places could expect cloud and "showery weather", he said.