Snow has started to settle in Te Anau, but Cantabrians will have to endure an evening of hail storms before the snow reaches the city late tonight. Blue Skies Weather forecaster Tony Trewinnard said snow was unlikely to fall in Canterbury until later this evening. However, hail storms and high winds, which had passed through Canterbury throughout the day, would continue.
Hail was raining down on New Brighton at 4pm. Te Anau residents said snow had been falling intermittently throughout the day, but had begun to settle around 3pm. A blast of snow hit Christchurch early this afternoon, but quickly passed. Meanwhile a front moved through Timaru at 10am, bringing snow showers before clearing.
The cold front is expected to head north, bringing snow to low levels for the rest of the South Island and parts of the North Island this afternoon and evening. Invercargill Police Senior Sergeant Dave Raynes said this morning it was "bitterly cold" and snow was falling around parts of Southland.
Black ice was causing difficulties in northern Southland with several vehicles sliding off the road around Dipton - about 20km north of Winton. Dunedin Police Senior Sergeant Mel Aitken said snow was falling intermittently all morning but there had been no road closures or weather-related accidents.
Flights to Queenstown and Wanaka had been affected by the polar blast by mid-day. Christchurch Airport cancelled Air New Zealand's 1:55pm flight to Wanaka due to ''weather conditions''. Meanwhile the 2:40pm flight from Christchurch to Queenstown was also cancelled. Snow prevented domestic mid-day flights from Queenstown to Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland from leaving the airport.
The MetService last night warned people to stay at home rather than venture out as a cold front moved up the country, bringing air direct from Antarctica. "Strong southerlies, gale about exposed coasts with the cold temperatures will make the wind feel bitterly cold and create blizzard-like conditions in some places," its forecast said.
If the worst of the predictions come true today it could be a disaster for the farming community, with some parts of the country lambing. MetService forecaster Geoff Sanders said people should be prepared for ''blizzard conditions''.
"It's really quite a significant event... it's a very cold outbreak and the strength of the wind associated with it will make it very cold. It leads on to Monday, where we could be looking at blizzard conditions in some inland areas – particularly the Canterbury high country."
Nine-metre waves are expected to batter Banks Peninsula. Meanwhile hundreds of Cantabrians queued for firewood yesterday. City Firewood said well over 1500 people had been through the gates since they opened at 7.30am, loading their cars and trailers with firewood.
"It's pretty crazy," City Firewood staff member Tineke Ward said. "We've loaded trailer after trailer. Cars have been backed up 200 metres down the road and having to wait about an hour."