For some, minus 10 isn't bad - but plumbers sure are busy

A couple elect to walk down the gritted road in Corrie St,  Dunedin, rather than the frozen...
A couple elect to walk down the gritted road in Corrie St, Dunedin, rather than the frozen footpath yesterday morning. Photos by Stephen Jaquiery.
Has it been cold at your place?

Spare a thought for the folks from Twizel, where yesterday's 10degC frost was the 34th morning of sub-zero temperatures out of the past 35, according to Niwa.

But the hardy townsfolk say they are not feeling the chill - they are just happy to see the sun.

Resident Kevin Moore said although there had been some "cracker frosts", with the temperature down to minus 12degC, it had been a "beautiful" winter.

"Because the air is so dry, we haven't had the hoar frosts. The temperature hasn't been much above freezing, but after the first hour it has been beautiful."

Twizel, Ranfurly (-11degC), and Middlemarch (-10degC) yesterday had the dubious honour of recording the South's lowest temperatures as severe frosts affected much of the region.

The sub-zero overnighttemperatures have resulted in hundreds of calls in the past few days to plumbers to fix burst or frozen pipes.

And householders are warned to expect more such problems, with MetService predicting further frosts overnight.

Minimum temperatures of -6degC for Queenstown, -4degC for Dunedin and -2degC for the airport were forecast for last night.

South Otago plumbers say they have received more than 40 callouts so far to fix burst pipes or split exhaust valves on hot-water cylinders.

In Central Otago, plumbers were called to more than a dozen damaged pipes in Wanaka and 15 in Cromwell.

Some of the homes had ceilings damaged and others were flooded.

A paradise duck crash-lands on the frozen pond at the Dunedin Botanic Garden yesterday morning.
A paradise duck crash-lands on the frozen pond at the Dunedin Botanic Garden yesterday morning.
Rory McLellan, of McLellan's Ltd in Alexandra, said his firm had 50 calls yesterday morning and probably 40 on Sunday.

His advice to home owners was to leave the manhole to the ceiling open or ajar, to allow some of the heat from the house to go into the ceiling, keeping pipes thawed.

He also suggested people learn where their water shut-off was, and pin a plan of that site to their hot-water cylinder.

Dunedin City Council network operations manager Mike Ind said in the past two days the council had dealt with eight burst pipes in the water reticulation system under roads.

Two Air New Zealand flights were delayed and one was cancelled at Dunedin International Airport yesterday.

Planes needed to be de-iced and it was not until about 9am that a flight was able to leave the airport.

Dunedin was the only centre in Otago to rise above 0degC by 10am. Some places, such as Queenstown and Dunedin airport, were still -7degC mid-morning.

It took until lunchtime for both places to pass 0degC, Queenstown reaching a "high" of 4degC and the airport 5degC.

Wanaka was the coolest, reaching only 3.2degC.

Niwa climate scientist Georgina Griffiths said the lows were not record-breaking, but because the past two winters had been "quite warm" in comparison, people were feeling the cold.

The closest to a record was Ranfurly, which experienced its fourth-coldest morning since 1975 with its low of -11degC.

Dunedin airport's -8degC yesterday was the 10th-coldest since 1962, according to Niwa figures.

 


Monday lows

Ranfurly -11degC
Middlemarch -10degC
Alexandra -9degC
Dunedin Airport-8degC
Lauder -9degC
Queenstown -7degC
Cromwell -7degC
Omakau -7degC
Balclutha -6degC
Oamaru -6degC
Waitati -5degC
Invercargill -4degC
Gore -4degC
Wanaka -4degC
Roxburgh -2degC
Musselburgh -1degC

Source: MetService


 

 

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