Black Friday turned into a whiteout as much of Central Otago and parts of the Queenstown Lakes area were blanketed with snow.
It was patchy in Southland and much of the Upper Clutha basin but snowfall was heavy in and around Queenstown, the Maniototo and around Alexandra.
The snow impacted power supplies with several thousand properties left without it yesterday morning — the worst-affected areas being around St Bathans and Alexandra.
Aurora Energy said it had been working to restore power supply and the company expected to have it completely restored late yesterday.
In Queenstown and Central Otago most schools closed for the day while some roads were closed in the morning.
Queenstown’s morning bus services were also cancelled.
There was 20cm of snow on the ground in Arrowtown, while Coronet Peak had 80cm at the top of the mountain.
The mountain was on hold early yesterday, opened, and then closed again about 11.30am due to avalanche risk.
At this time of year the snow compacts when it warms up, becoming more dense, which elevates the avalanche risk, leading to the field’s closure.
"It was a bit unfortunate for the people there ... we actually had to hold on the road for a while; we didn’t let them down the road until we were confident the snow above the road had been avalanche-controlled as well," Mr Anderson said.
The field was scheduled to open this morning.
Mr Anderson said the timing of the storm was "fantastic", given the first tranche of Australian school holidays begins next Saturday.
Queenstown Airport remained open yesterday — only two flights were cancelled.
MetService has predicted another wintry blast is headed towards Queenstown.
Dunstan Hospital chief executive Hayley Anderson said the hospital, at Clyde, lost its power supply about 6.30am yesterday.
The on-site generators kicked in until power was restored three hours later and provided more than enough power for the hospital’s needs.
There was no disruption to hospital services.
Some staff worked from home as they drove usually in from Ophir and the Maniototo, she said.
The snow was not all bad for a Chinese couple, in the South Island for wedding photos.
Drs Alison Ou and Crystal Sun were on day two of a three-day wedding shoot when the road to Aoraki/Mt Cook, their planned photography location for the day, was closed due to heavy snow.
Ya Zhuo, a Christchurch based photographer, pushed on towards Queenstown but stopped outside the Dunstan Downs wool shed on the Lindis as snow drifted down, turning the landscape into a picturesque backdrop. Crystal will be photographed in six different gowns during the shoot.
