A wave warning has been issued off the coast of the Banks Peninsula to just above Ōamaru as South Canterbury plunges into a cold and wet storm on Tuesday.
The wave warning, from the Met Service, for the Waitaki River to Le Bons Bay, is in effect from 5pm Tuesday to 6pm Wednesday, where combined southeasterly waves of 3m are expected Tuesday night, rising to 4m later in the evening.
The swell is expected to rise to 3 meters Tuesday night, then veer southeast on Wednesday morning, before declining to 2 meters late Wednesday afternoon.
George Empson/delivered
A bird searches for food on a snow-covered tree in Lake Takapō/Tekapo on Tuesday.
The MetService says the period of highest risk is typically at or within one to two hours of high water. In Timaru, the high tide is on Wednesday at 2:07 a.m. and 2:41 p.m.
The warning comes on a day when bad weather has brought heavy rain, wind and snow in some parts of the region.
Timaru District Council communications manager Stephen Doran said it was “monitoring the situation”.
“We have teams inspecting the roads, in some rural and low-lying areas we can’t be on all the roads at once, so we advise anyone traveling to be extremely careful,” he said.
“The network [roads] seems to be doing well at the moment”,
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Molly the dog is enjoying the snow in Twizel on Tuesday, as captured by her owner Aleisha Boxer during their daily walk.
The council is working with Environment Canterbury to monitor river levels and low-lying coastal areas, he said.
“Due to past flooding and heavy rainfall, we’ve been working with coastal towns like the Milford Huts, and they have their own response plans, but we’ll still be monitoring the situation in those areas.”
Meanwhile, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency’s closure of SH8 extends from Fairlie (over Burkes Pass) via Takapō/Tekapo to the Lake Pukaki exit to SH80 to Mt Cook, which is also closed, all due to snow and icy conditions.
At 2:30 p.m., the agency said heavy fog also obstructed the view between Geraldine and Fairlie.
While SH8 is open from Pukaki via Twizel to Ōmārama, it is also closed from there over Lindis pass to Tarras.
“There are no diversions available. Avoid the area or postpone your trip if possible,” the NZTA said.
KARL FRENCH/Things
Snow and ice cover the Wairepo Arm, a lake near Lake Ruataniwha and Twizel on the border between Waitaki and Mackenzie counties.
Aleisha Bokser, who has lived in Twizel for three years, said this was the first ”good dumping in a long time”.
“The weather here is still snowing at the moment and we have about 6 inches of snow, maybe more,” she said at 2:40 p.m. on Tuesday.
The Mt Dobson ski area is also closed Tuesday due to heavy snowfall.
“MetService says 115cm with heavy snow warning and snow forecaster says 49cm,” says an email from the ski resort.
“We’ll see what actually falls, fingers crossed.”
Sharlene McKinlay, a resident of Aoraki/Mt Cook Village, said 12cm of “fresh, very dry snow” had fallen on Tuesday morning and that there was “continuous snowfall”.
Sharlene McKinlay/Delivered
Tamsin McKinlay, 4, will be playing in the snow Tuesday morning at Aoraki/Mt Cook Village.
She said it was cold, but “still.”
“Some people have stayed put, we saw others leave. The highway is now officially closed.”
She said while it was quiet because people stayed indoors, it made for “beautiful winter conditions,” and she was looking forward to getting out in the snow again and taking more photos.
Charlie Hobbs, owner of Southern Alps Guiding in the Mt Cook Village, said it was snowing steadily.
“To be [snow] not heavy now. I think it will be busy clearing the roads for most of the day. The flow is still good,” Hobbs said.
He estimated that there was about four inches of snow at 9 a.m.
Temperatures in South Canterbury’s alpine areas are zero or lower with Tekapo and Mt Cook Village at -2C and Twizel 0, while nearby Ōmārama in the Waitaki District was -1 at 8:30am.
The cold temperatures have frozen part of the Wairepo Arm, a small lake on the edge of Lake Ruataniwha near Twizel.
KARL FRENCH/Things
High Country Salmon staff Annemarie Massam, left, and Mackenzie Dunnicliff review conditions at the farm.
The High Country salmon farm is on Wairepo Arm and General Manager Karl French said freezing was a rarity rather than the norm for this time of year.
“It’s not thick enough to walk on.”
French said that while they were normally at work on Tuesday, he was sending staff home who had to travel a short distance to work.
“The snow is starting to cover the road (SH6) by a few centimeters.”
Meteorologist Amy Rossiter said snow and rain in the Canterbury High Country and Coastal Canterbury will only increase during the day.
Sharlene McKinlay/Delivered
Snow on the Mt College Village on Tuesday morning.
Rossiter said Timaru has had 5.4mm of rain from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. and that a front is slowly moving south, bringing more rain later in the day.
She said the Canterbury High Country had quite a bit of snow Tuesday morning, which is also expected to get heavier later in the day.