Christchurch has experienced its first October snowfall in more than 50 years as a polar blast sweeps through New Zealand, causing freezing springtime temperatures.
Snow flurries have also been reported further north in Wellington, with the Remutaka Hill Rd affected and reports even of dusts in the sea-level suburb of Kilbirnie.
The Desert Rd in the central North Island is closed, one of a number of state highways and other roads that have been affected by the freezing temperatures and snow.
The polar bast is causing unseasonal, single-digit temperatures across the South Island and into the North Island today, including Auckland where the temperature in some parts of the city was just 9C at 7am. The city is forecast to have showers and strong winds in some places and a high of 13C today.
The coldest place in the country early this morning was Te Ānau, where it was a bone-chilling -5.1C.
Residents in Christchurch have been waking to a wintry wonderland - cars and gardens covered in the white stuff - though not enough to have fully settled on roads.
Shane Neal, a Christchurch resident in Edgeware said this was only the second time he'd experienced snow since moving from the North Island.
He awoke early this morning to find his cars and deck blanketed in snow, he said it looks stunning but the conditions "take some adjusting".
"When I took the dogs out in the morning, I realised the deck was like a skating rink," he said.
"It's just about adjusting your speed as you drive your car, walk around outside - it's that much more slippery."
Neal and a friend had returned last night from a trip across Burkes Pass, he was thankful the roads remained open to complete his journey.
"You couldn't see a blade of green grass yesterday, it was a nerve-wracking drive in blizzard conditions but absolutely beautiful."
MetService has confirmed it is snow - after earlier saying it would need to check if it was snow or graupel, a soft hail.
It is the first time Christchurch has seen October snow since October 10, 1969. At 6.30am the temperature was officially 1.2C in the Garden City, but the MetService reported it as feeling more like -4C outside.
Snow still falling at Goughs Bay
A resident of Goughs Bay, one of Christchurch's most eastern bays said snow has continued to fall "quite hard" this morning.
Sandie Stewart lives on a cattle farm on the Banks Peninsula with her family, she said the snowfall was "a magical sight", with an inch of snow surrounding the property.
The land hasn't seen snowfall in decades, she said.
"I love the snow, we don't have any snow equipment for the kids so we might grab some cardboard boxes and go sledding down the hills."
Living on a cattle farm presents its own set of challenges during snowfall, according to Stewart. The wet ground makes it tricky to scale hills to reach livestock - however Stewart is thankful he doesn't have any baby lambs about to be born, unlike other farmers she knows.
"A few farmers are still lambing at the moment, which would be horrible for them at the moment in the cold."
A chilly start for many
Forecasters issued earlier warnings on Wednesday, saying nearly the entire South Island would be hit by bitter cold wind and snow. The freezing temperatures are also sweeping north, with Wellington's Wainuiomata Hill Rd briefly closed by ice last night.
Snow was expected in the South Island from about 6am yesterday until 9am today, with flurries down to sea level in some places.
There is a forecast temperature high of 10C in Christchurch today but this is expected to drop again to an overnight low of 1C.
Dunedin's temperature was 0.9C early on, with outside feeling like -3C, MetService said.
A high of 8C and an overnight low of 5C is on the cards in Dunedin. Snow showers are expected to become isolated by this afternoon - turning to rain showers below 400m. Strong southwesterly winds are forecast for the city as well with gales gusting up to 90km/h along the coast.
The snow caused the closure of State Highway 87 northwest of Dunedin early last night. State Highway 1, the Northern Motorway from Dunedin, was also closed late last night.
Between 6cm and 10cm of snow was expected to fall on the motorway between 8pm yesterday and 6pm today.
MetService meteorologist Angus Hines said the snowfall matched what was forecast.
With such a cold atmosphere there was a "really good chance" some roads would be closed due to snow overnight and today.
The bad weather would affect areas of higher altitude more, such as Central Otago, but there was no region which was expected to be hit worse than others.
The snow had potential to settle, with the two biggest factors being the quantity of snowfall and the temperature of the ground.
- NZ Herald, ODT, RNZ, Star News
