Went for a little trek up at Lake Rotoiti today, arrived there around 10:30am and it was snowing ever so lightly, even though the air temp wasn't much under 5C. I was a wee bit surprised as on the drive up I could see how bare the surrounding mountains were, I think Sunday nights rain must have washed it all away. Got light snow falling the whole 2.5 hours of my walk and by the time I got back to the carpark around 1ish it had started snowing a bit heavier, still not enough to settle though. Temp at St Arnuad as I drove through around 1:30pm was 2-3C and snowing moderatly, not sure if any of it settled but judging by the rain radar St Arnuad was right at the northern limit of the snow showers.
I was surprised that snow was falling not only because of the mild temps but because of the timing, I guess the colder air had so much fun in the alps in wasn't in any hurry to head north!
I always thought you needed 2C or below for just snow to fall? though judging by the fact the air was quite dry at the time, dps around -3C I am guessing that evaporating snow cooled the air enough to let it fall while at the same time not melting the snow too much so it still fell as snow. Of course needless to say it was melting as soon as it hit the ground! I had to get to over 1000m asl before it started settling at those temps.
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