Snow is falling in Dunedin and around the region as a forecast wintry blast makes its way up the South Island.
Reports are coming in of snow in Dunedin's hill suburbs, and there were flurries in the central city around midday.
A MetService spokesman said a cold wintry blast was spreading up the South Island and the next few days would feel like a return to winter, even though it was technically spring.
"I’m hoping people haven’t put their winter woollies away yet," the spokesman said.An updated MetService forecast on Monday morning said a road snowfall warning for Dunedin's Northern Motorway (State Highway 1) would be in place until 9pm, with snow showers forecast for summits overnight and lowering to about 100m today, with 1cm to 2cm of snow accumulating in places.
Motorists were yesterday warned roads would be treacherous today, following a spate of incidents caused by blustery weather which tied up emergency services in the South yesterday.Today’s expected high was about 6 degC, when usually at this time of year it would be about 13 degC, the MetService spokesman said.
Tomorrow, Dunedin could expect a high of about 8degC while temperatures across most of the South Island remained in single digits.
A high of 12 degC was forecast for Wednesday and the rest of the week would likely stay in double digits, he said.
The potentially hazardous road conditions today follow on from a day of high winds which battered the South yesterday.
A Dunedin Airport spokesman said seven flights were cancelled because of yesterday's weather.
Three arrivals and three departures were affected between Auckland and Christchurch and a flight to Wellington due to depart last evening was also cancelled, he said.
There had been no serious incidents or injuries, but there had been so many calls for downed powerlines that PowerNet was left with a backlog to attend to, SSO Frew said.
Ziff’s Cafe & Bar owner Allen Arnold said his premises had to be closed due to a power pole brought down by the wind.
The cafe had been fully booked for lunch and dinner because it was Father’s Day.While the outage on such a big day was unfortunate, "it is what it is", Mr Arnold said.
