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Some truck drivers have spent a cold night sleeping in their cabs in the central North Island as snow blocks the main highways.
Sixteen centimetres of snow has accumulated overnight and State Highway 1 over the Desert Road is fully closed, along with State Highway 49 through Ohakune.
Rustic Eating House owner Tyson Burrows is in Waiouru at the northern end of the Desert Road.
On a walk in the snow at first light this morning, he told RNZ reporter Katie Todd it's the biggest snow dump so far this winter.