Earliest ever closure of Desert Road by snow?

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tich
Posts: 3525
Joined: Sat 15/03/2003 18:32
Location: Christchurch (St Albans)/Akaroa

Earliest ever closure of Desert Road by snow?

Unread post by tich »

I know it's not unknown (though unusual) for snow to fall on the Desert Road this early in the year, but I can't ever recall the road being closed by snow in March. This must be a pretty cold blast to cause this. Frequent showers still plaguing Chch; a few heavy (but without hail), and only about 8C.
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Thunder
Posts: 2068
Joined: Wed 12/03/2003 19:47
Location: Mt Somers

Unread post by Thunder »

The volcano cam shows snow on Ruapehu!

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Aaron Wilkinson
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Gary Roberts
Posts: 2363
Joined: Sun 18/01/2004 18:59
Location: Omarama

Re: Earliest ever closure of Desert Road by snow?

Unread post by Gary Roberts »

tich wrote:I know it's not unknown (though unusual) for snow to fall on the Desert Road this early in the year, but I can't ever recall the road being closed by snow in March. This must be a pretty cold blast to cause this. Frequent showers still plaguing Chch; a few heavy (but without hail), and only about 8C.
We had snow down to ground-level in Omarama township (approx 400m) a couple of days ago, as well as plenty on the tops, and it's been rather chilly too, not surprisingly. The trees are in their autumn shades now too. Very fetching.
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tich
Posts: 3525
Joined: Sat 15/03/2003 18:32
Location: Christchurch (St Albans)/Akaroa

Unread post by tich »

I heard that the snow fell for about 5 hours from about 2AM on the Desert Road. So it still would've been snowing at 6AM when the obs showed Waiouru on about 0C - so should've been snowing there (maybe even lower) as well. No wonder the truckies got stuck - you don't normally expect this so early in the year. I remeber back in 1993, hearing about 5cm falling on the road in mid/late March - the road wasn't closed, but it certainly made the news.
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