NZ Weather Forum

Sure is cold this morning, last night was unusual, I was expecting a calm night but I woke at 3am and it was quite breezy. Still managed a low of 6.1C, with a light S now.

8• The SSW is back again like yesterday morning though it looks as though its may go more S than yesterday.

Just returned from a weekend at St Bathans ....bit of a frost and tiny bit of snow on the top of Danseys pass.

could be another cold outbreak for the start of May coming up?

The ingredients could be there for some heavy snow, next week.
Is snow fall in late April any good for the skii fields ?.

Is snow fall in late April any good for the skii fields ?.

I don't think so, unless May is a cold one with either a predominance of frosty anticyclonic weather or lots more cold outbreaks and snowfalls. (preferably amixture of both)

Monday's Press said that Saturday's snowfall down to 300m was unusual for Canterbury. How unusual? I recall falls to that level or lower in (various parts of) Canterbury in April of 1999, 2004, and 2005.

spwill wrote:The ingredients could be there for some heavy snow, next week.
Is snow fall in late April any good for the skii fields ?.

I hope not. At least till after May 10 when I've dealt with the Routeburn Classic please

sure is going to be a cool night tonight people!! starting to get down to below freezing.
I see fencepost has a -1C temp for us tonight, and woke up with morning could really feel the chill in the air now!

cheers

Thats only 5-6 degrees above the coldest temperature recorded in Christchurch *complains* I wish we had colder winter nights and days. But was a surprise because I never really noticed early frosts / cold nights till this year.

tich wrote:
Monday's Press said that Saturday's snowfall down to 300m was unusual for Canterbury. How unusual? I recall falls to that level or lower in (various parts of) Canterbury in April of 1999, 2004, and 2005.

Yes, well thats the ignorance of reporters these days who just make things up for a story without checking the facts first, correctly

JohnGaul
NZTS

Nice morning today 10.2deg on the Otago peninsula and calm.

Uh... 1 question.. How did we get a wind chill if its calm? Metservice says feels like -1C at 7am and the temperature is 2...

spwill wrote:The ingredients could be there for some heavy snow, next week.
Is snow fall in late April any good for the skii fields ?.

Snowfall in April is generally no good at all for the skifields, April is a busy month in terms of pre season preparation, as is early May, especially with $20million worth of construction going on at Coronet Peak right now. And april snow will rarely last for more than a few days in most of the areas where skifields are located. The ideal scenario for early season snow is for heavy falls of wet snow through May, followed by cold clear conditions, consolidating the snow pack to form a solid snow base and provide opportunity for snow making (which is becoming highly sophisticated on some mountains).

Southland got hammered by this system. Driving from Invercargill to Te Anau on Saturday, had snow on the ground all the way between Mossburn and the Manapouri turnoff a wee way before Te Anau itself. Through the highest part of this stretch of road (<300m) there was in excess of 10cm on the ground roadside. The Takitimus recieved a lot of snow, which persisted right through Monday on the Northern aspects, made for a magic day wakeboarding on lake Te Anau on Sunday with that for a backdrop! Fiordland itself, north of Manapouri, recieved a lot less precipitation than elsewhere in Southland, but there was still a decent amount of snow to levels below the bushline, with fresh snow on the tops overnight on Sunday and Monday. The southern aspects of the Takitimus, visible from my place in Invercargill, are still well covered.