


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay. ... on=general
(NZ herald story)
and... Waikato Times story
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2740696a11,00.html
6.9C at Jeff's suburban Chch (Hillmorton) station, so yes, rather wintry for late November. A wet evening in Chch as well. I see MetService has put out a snowfall warning (2-3cm of slushy snow) for Porter's Pass above about 700 metres. Could also be a dusting on top of Mt Herbert tonight.Temp has dropped to 6.8 degrees with persistent rain.
Chilly for the end of November,the snow level must be down to around 700-800 metres by now,as forecasted.
I'm not surprised there's fresh snow on the mountains. As there was still cloud over Banks Peninsula this morning (looking at Lyttleton webcam), I couldn't see the top of Mt Herbert, but could easily have been a little snow up there early on. The 1PM radar shows nothing over Canterbury, though a layer of high cloud is now spreading onto Chch from the southwest.I took this photo of Mt Hutt at 10.00am this morning,maybe the seasons are lagging behind somewhat.
I remember that period (late spring/early summer 1991) as a wintry one, thanks to El Nino and (possibly) the effects of Mt Pinatubo. I was visiting Chch at the beginning of December - after a mild 20s northwesterly day on the 1st, it was 5C and raining the next morning. (I recall accidentally writing a cheque and putting the date as August, not December!) There were snow flurries on the upper plains, and a dusting on the summit of Mt Herbert.In late November 1991, I went with a school group to Whakapapa, Mt Ruapehu. We got snowed in and enjoyed blizzard conditions for three days. Great fun!