Wild weather has hammered parts of the country overnight, with strong winds for much of the country and the season's first snow in the south.
Snow on Mt Hutt this morning. Photo: Supplied / James McKenzie
The first snow of the season hit the country yesterday, with MetService saying there was probably snow on Arthur's, Lewis and Porters Pass, though it was yet to confirm that.
It was thought to have cleared at Arthur's and Porters Pass shortly after it began, and was expected to clear in Lewis Pass by early this morning.
Some areas in central Otago had sub-zero temperatures, with Alexandra getting down to -2°C.
Mt Hutt ski area manager James McKenzie said the mountain had heavy snow fall, with access to the ski fields only possible by using snowmobiles.
"It's pretty wintry right now", he said. "It's currently -9°C at the top of the mountain and there is an 80km/h southerly."
Snow on Mt Hutt, where access to the skifield was cut off to vehicles other than snowmobiles. Photo: Supplied / James McKenzie
He said this was relatively normal for this time of the year, but the strong southerlies were expected to continue throughout May.
Mr McKenzie said the weather was so wild, it took a construction crew, who were building a new toilet block, several hours to get up the mountain yesterday.
"The snow just got too deep for our four wheel drives... so we had to shuttle [the workers] up on the snowmobiles," he said.
Cardrona skifield spokesperson Jen Houltham said it was very cold on the mountain yesterday for the last day of April, with snow now coating cabins and diggers as they prepared for the ski season.
Snow covered a digger at Cardrona skifield yesterday. Photo: Supplied / Cardrona Skifield
It was not the first snow of the year, however, with a heavy dump of snow during the off-season in January after a summer storm that also cut power to parts of Auckland.
MetService meteorologist April Clark said while conditions were expected to ease today, colder temperatures would become more common over the coming weeks.
"For most people in the North Island, they're probably going to notice that it's got colder.
"We've sort of escaped it - a really cold outbreak - so far."
MetService had been forecasting snow down to 700m in some places likes Arthur's Pass and Porters Pass, she said.
"It does look like temperatures got cold enough and they did get precipitation down there."
Cabins for a new Cardrona skifield gondola are covered in snow just two days after they arrived. Photo: Cardrona Skifield
Heavy winds for North Island
MetService said there were also strong winds and heavy rain for the east coast of the North Island, and gusts in Wellington topping 100km/h.
The winds brought down trees around the city - one of them damaging three vehicles and a power line. The city council said trees were down in Brooklyn, Karori and Melrose.
All train lines between Petone and Wellington were also being replaced by buses because of damage to balustrades along the waterfront, while all trains into Melling Railway Station in Lower Hutt were been cancelled until further notice due to bad weather.
The Johnsonville line was however back up and running after delays caused by a train hitting a tree about 5.30am.
High winds also forced the closure of parts of Marine Drive in Lower Hutt after waves crashed onto the road, leaving behind debris and logs.
Ms Clark said Wellington was the windiest place in the country last night.
"Right at MetService in Kelburn were the highest gusts, about 120km/h, and that was around 10 o'clock last night."
One flight was also diverted back to Auckland from Wellington after it was unable to land.
A MetService spokesperson said they expected winds to ease this morning with better weather forecast for the North Island for Tuesday.
People were urged to take care on the roads.
Further south, State Highway 1 north of Orari, near Temuka in South Canterbury, was closed because of a crash.
