The sun shone over Central Otago yesterday, but the evidence of the very cold Labour Weekend lay centimetres deep across the mountains.
Fresh snow on the lower slopes of the Southern Alps beyond Wanaka, and several centimetres across the Crown Range between Wanaka and Queenstown, gave yesterday's light breeze a chilly edge.
That did not deter dozens of people from getting out of their cars at the top of the Crown Range for snowball fights, snowman-building and, in the case of one group, some (brief) bare-foot wandering.
The level of Lake Wanaka was up yesterday after heavy rain in the headwaters but there was no serious flooding.
The cold weather is set to return, as the MetService predicted frosts this morning and a showery southwesterly, bringing cold temperatures and snow to ''low levels'' over the south of the South Island on Friday.
Spring snow dusted the hills around Clutha yesterday morning.
Jodie Johnston, who farms in the Kuriwao Gorge, near Clinton, said a ''dusting'' of snow fell overnight and melted ''pretty quickly'' yesterday morning.
The late snow caused few problems and thawed quickly.
Stock were able to graze and did not require supplementary feed.
