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Road snowfall warnings are in place for the Crown Range and Lindis Pass as a polar blast hits the South.
On the Crown Range between Queenstown and Wānaka snow was expected to lower to 700 metres on Friday morning, and to 400 metres by the evening.
Drivers could expect 1cm to 3 cm to accumulate above 700 metres and lesser amounts to 400 metres.”
On the Lindis Pass snow showers were expected to develop above 800 metres during Friday morning but little snow was likely to accumulate on the road
There is also a strong wind watch for coastal Otago and Southland from noon on Friday.
Southwest winds may approach severe gale in exposed places.
Snow for Dunedin hill suburbs
While snow is expected to start falling around Dunedin’s hill suburbs on Friday, the possibility of building snowmen will be very unlikely.
MetService meteorologist Braydon White said a low pressure system started spinning up the west of the South Island on Thursday and would start to push its way across the bottom of the South Island on Friday.
“Then it’s going to bring around its left flank, which will carry some very strong and cold southerlies with it.
“It’s going to be dragging up air from the Subantarctic Islands, and alongside all that cold air there’s going to be a bunch of rain or snow falling to quite low levels.”
However, he said it was not expected to be cold enough to fall down to sea level around Dunedin.
“We’re currently picking it will fall down to about 200m, so maybe some of the higher suburbs in Dunedin could see something late in the afternoon and into the evening.
“And if it does settle, it won’t be for long.
“Further inland, certainly in some of the higher elevations, there will be a fair amount of snow.”
He said road snowfall warnings had already been issued for higher routes, including the Crown Range Rd and the Milford Rd (State Highway 94), and it was likely to affect transport and farming operations across Otago and Southland.
The snow was expected to carry on into Saturday morning, before clearing throughout the day.
As well as rain, sleet and snow, the low pressure system would also bring strong winds which could reach speeds of up to 100kmh.
“In the early morning, conditions won’t seem quite that bad because the low is fairly small.
“So the southerly is going to come in and it’s going to pick up quite quickly over a couple of hours around lunchtime.
“You’ll really notice the wind just feels like it’ll come from nowhere, to absolutely blowing a gale.
“We’re looking at decent southerly wind gusts, potentially 100kmh in those coastal areas of Otago and Southland, and there is a chance that they could get upgraded to a warning, so we’re watching it pretty closely.”
Mr White urged southern residents to keep a close eye on the weather forecast and to take extra care when travelling.
john.lewis@odt.co.nz