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A cold front is set to bring snow showers to alpine roads in parts of the South Island.
It’ll be a chilly day for many on Friday, with temperatures ranging from just 10°C to 12°C for Dunedin, Queenstown, Central Otago and Invercargill, while Oamaru was expected to reach 14°C and Christchurch 16°C.
MetService has issued road snowfall warnings for Southland’s Milford Road, the Crown Range, linking Queenstown and Wānaka, and the Lewis and Arthur’s passes in Canterbury.
The warnings begin about 8pm on Thursday and continue into Friday.
Milford Road (State Highway 94)
Period: From midnight on Thursday until 5am on Friday.
Snow showers will affect the road until Friday afternoon, but MetService says the snow was only expected to accumulate on the road overnight on Thursaday into early Friday morning. It said 1cm may accumulate between midnight and 5am on Friday above 700 metres.
Crown Range Road
Period: From 6am until noon on Friday.
Snow showers may affect the road at times until the evening, but was expected to accumulate on the road until the morning. Up to 1cm may accumulate between 6am and 12pm, with lesser amounts down to 700 metres.
Lewis Pass (SH7)
Period: 8pm on Thursday until 8am on Friday
Snow showers are expected from later on Thursday afternoon and 1cm to 2cm may accumulate about the summit at times with lesser amounts above 700 metres in the evening and on Friday morning.
Arthur’s Pass (SH73)
Period: From 4am to 8am on Friday
Snow showers may affect the road from early in the morning and 2cm to 4cm may accumulate about the summit, and lesser amounts down to 800 metres.