Heavy snow forecast for northwest South Island, weather affects alpine passes

Sunday, 22 July 2018

The Crown Range Rd from Queenstown to Wanaka is now openafter being closed due to heavy snow on Sunday night.

Snow is expected to fall on Monday down to 400 metres in the northwest of the South Island, and could become heavy, MetService is warning. There's also a chance of occasional rain with snow down to 500m in Otago and Southland.

Overnight, snow closed the Lewis Pass, which connects North Canterbury to the West Coast. The route re-opened during the morning, but late morning the NZ Transport Agency was warning chains were essential further west along the route, from Springs Junction to Reefton, with that stretch of State Highway 7 closed to towing vehicles.

Snow covers Arthurs Pass in this NZTA webcam image from 9pm on Sunday night.

A section of State Highway 94 southeast of Milford Sound remained closed on Monday morning due to a moderate avalanche hazard.

Drivers were also being asked to slow down late morning because of icy conditions on SH 73 from Springfield to Arthur's Pass.

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MetService said a band of rain falling in the upper South Island on Monday was falling as snow, mostly above 500m but down to 400m in some inland areas. The snow could become heavy above 600m around inland parts of Buller and Nelson, including Kahurangi and Nelson Lakes National parks, and Takaka Hill.

In the east of the North Island, two stretches of highway that were closed by slips on Sunday remained blocked on Monday morning. They were SH2 through the Waimana Gorge, south of Whakatane, and SH35 east of Cape Runaway.

MetService meteorologist Karl Loots said heavy rain fell in eastern areas of the North Island overnight on Saturday as a front went over.

Much cooler air had moved in behind that front, and was followed by more fronts that brought the freezing level down to below 1000 metres in the south of the South Island.

'Another one [front] is sitting through central Canterbury at the moment,' Loots said about 5.30am on Monday. That's gradually moving it's way up today and behind that is even colder air.'

A low pressure system to the east of Christchurch was churning away, driving southerlies through much of the South Island.

At the same time, rain and snowfall were expected to ease during Monday. 'It's patchy and going to decrease for the rest of the day,' he said.

Gisborne and Hawke's Bay are the only parts of the country expected to stay dry on Monday, while the north of the country and Canterbury are forecast to have only a few showers.

Rain is expected to move into central parts of the country from the south during the afternoon and evening.

MetService is forecasting a few showers for Auckland, mainly in the afternoon, and a high of 14 degrees Celsius.

In Wellington, rain is expected to develop from midday as strong northerlies change southerly, with the temperature dropping from 12C during the afternoon. Christchurch is expected to have showers with a high of 10C.

MetService had also warned of the chance of snow overnight Sunday on Lindis Pass (SH8), and the Crown Range Road.