While farmers were being flown into the back country to rescue their stock from the snow last month, police were doing the same thing for a different reason.
The problem was the snow piling up on the photovoltaic solar panels that power some police radio masts.
Information and communications technology regional operations manager for the police in the South Island Tony Gorst, of Christchurch, told the Otago Daily Times technicians in helicopters were dispatched to clear the snow off the panels.
The police operate the biggest radio network in the South Island and many of the more remote sites rely on power from batteries which are charged by the panels.
Mr Gorst said as snow had had built up on the panels there had been a noticeable drop-off in voltage at quite a few sites, and police staff were required to change the way they operated the radio system, in order to conserve power.
Mr Gorst said police had been using solar panels at radio sites since the 1980s, but the snow had been a good test of a ''pretty robust'' system.
''The storm proved the resilience of the radio network. Everything stood up and did its job.''
It is understood of the dozens of police radio sites relying on solar panels only one, in Southland, stopped working.
Mr Gorst, who has recently moved from the North Island, said it was not an easy job for technicians to clear the panels of snow, but they found it rewarding and ''do it with a passion''.
