Early snow disrupts travel but gives skifields hope

A severe weather warning for snow in Otago and Southland was lifted yesterday, as the MetService forecast a brief easing of the cold, southerly conditions today.

This follows a cold snap which closed at least one school yesterday, disrupted the travel plans for those using Queenstown International Airport and excited Queenstown skifield operators predicting the coming ski season is set to start off with a "hiss and a roar".

• Slideshow: Snow in Otago [2]

Sunday's snow fall closed Lee Stream School yesterday and resulted in warnings to watch road conditions.

Motorists on State Highway 94, from Te Anau to Milford, were required to carry chains but other roads were clear, Transit's website reported.

While the level that snow falls to was expected to rise to 700m last night, cold southeasterly winds and rain showers were expected to continue in coastal Otago this morning.

MetService forecaster Vive Binkoto said a break in the weather was expected this afternoon but another low off the coast of the South Island would bring cold showers to sea level and snow to about 700m tonight.

It was predicted inland Otago would experience similar conditions, with light showers easing this afternoon and then returning with some sleet tonight, she said.

Temperatures again dropped to lows of 2degC and below around the region yesterday, with highs barely reaching double figures.

It was expected temperatures would remain about 10degC to 11degC for the next few days with a high of 13degC expected on Thursday.

The Remarkables Ski Area manager Ross Lawrence said 55cm of snow had fallen in the area since last Wednesday.

Yesterday, the base had up to 45cm of snow on the ground but the cloud was beginning to clear, he said.

"This storm has come through here with gusto.

"It's welcome at this time of year," he said.

The skifield would open as planned on June 20.

The season was expected to go through to October 11, he said.

"We had a few keen local freestyle skiers up here over the weekend hitting the rails in the fresh snow, which was great to see," he said.

Coronet Peak ski area manager Hamish McCrostie said he was "thrilled" with the weekend's conditions.

Up to 50cm of snow had fallen in the area in the last week.

He said 25cm had fallen at the top of the mountain over Sunday night, and 15cm at the base.

"It's definitely early. It's unusual to have quite a prolonged period of snowfall in May.

"It bodes well for the season," he said.

The skifield was on track to open as scheduled on June 6.

Snow-making machines would be turned on from May 22, he said.

Snow flurries disrupted the travel plans of passengers in and out of Queenstown yesterday.

Both Air New Zealand and Qantas cancelled flights to and from Queenstown International Airport, where a source said patches of cloud had been sitting at 800m, more at 1000m and cloud's main base was sitting at 2000m.

Aircraft fitted with Required Navigational Performance technology can navigate on instruments through the cloud, but have a safety cut-off when cloud is below 1000m.

An Air New Zealand 737 did make it in shortly after 4.30pm.

However, the company was forced to divert a Mount Cook ATR from Rotorua and Christchurch to Invercargill in the afternoon and an earlier flight from Auckland to Queenstown was diverted to Christchurch.

The passengers on both flights, 142 and 56 respectively, then travelled by road to Queenstown.

Because the aircraft had not been able to land, return services were also unavailable.

Similarly, Qantas had its two domestic flights - one from Auckland and one from Christchurch disrupted by the poor weather.

A Qantas spokeswoman said a 10.15am flight from Auckland to Queenstown had been cancelled as had a 3pm flight from Christchurch.

Both flights were to have return trips, but passengers had to be taken by bus instead, she said.

The Treble Cone and Cardrona skifields received snowfalls of about 10cm to 15cm, but operators spoken to by the Otago Daily Times said they were not getting too excited by the early amounts of snow, given the start of the ski season was at least seven weeks away.