Meteorologist Lisa Murray said 1300 of them were in the North Island, while the South Island had 112.<\/p>\n
There had been a lot of active or very convective weather across the country which meant thunderstorms were more likely, she said.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
Today there was a moderate risk of some decent rainfall in parts of the North Island throughout the day, but that will ease in Christchurch which was being hit by heavy rainfall this morning, she said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
There was some snowfall in parts of the country, but it was only sticking to the ground in higher inland areas, Murray said.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
A MetService road snowfall warning that was in place for Lindis Pass overnight has now expired, while similar warnings for Crown Range Road will expire at midday today and a Milford Road (SH94) warning will expire at 10am today.<\/p>\n
There is also a heavy snow watch warning in place for parts of Southland until midday.<\/p>\n
Murray said there had been 20mm of rain over three hours in Christchurch and rain would continue this morning but it would ease off.<\/p>\n
“There is a band right across Christchurch … but it will move over Banks Peninsula later today.”<\/p>\n
A cold snap has prompted warnings about icy roads throughout the country.<\/p>\n
Waka Kotahi said snow had closed State Highway 1 from Rangipo to Waiouru (Desert Road) and SH46 from Tongariro to Rangipo.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The thunderstorms overnight had not caused further damage to the network, she said.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
In Auckland, Waka Kotahi said the Harbour Bridge would only be operating with four lanes in each direction during this morning’s peak travel due to strong wind gusts.<\/p>\n
Auckland Transport says that due to the adverse weather all Te Onewa Northcote Point services will operate by taxi until mid-afternoon.<\/p>\n
South Island drivers should be wary of snowy or icy conditions in Southland and Otago but all the state highways were currently open, she said.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The Crown Range in the Queensland District is closed.<\/p>\n
Spokesperson Laura Hedley said it snowed quite heavily overnight, particularly at Cardrona.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
It was still early but every little bit of snow helped, she said.<\/p>\n
Skifield operators were now hoping the ground freezes a little bit as they plan to start their snow making from next week, she said.<\/p>\n
The plan was to open Cadrona on 17 June and Treble Cone on 24 June, she said.<\/p>\n
The weather patterns seemed to be shifting into a south-west flow which was good news for the skifields.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The increasing cost of living was a consideration, she said.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
Source: RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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