South Island Snowstorm - June 18-19

[Razor]

Great pic BPO, its a healthy dump that's for sure! Roads might be dicey for people travelling to the Winter festival from up here, but then it is a WINTER festival. Skifields will be in great shape

[bpo]

...its a healthy dump that's for sure!

[matttbs]

View from my neighbours lounge

[bpo]

No more snow falling for the better part of an hour, and the cloud ceiling has gone way up.

Hopefully this time it's all over.

[Orion]

2°C, half an inch of white slush on lawns and roofs still, and the overcast has descended into fog.
That's what I call a wintry day

[bpo]

2°C, half an inch of white slush on lawns and roofs still, and the overcast has descended into fog.
That's what I call a wintry day

Don't worry, you won't have to put up with it for too much longer, because down here we now have a blue sky and, gasp, there's the sun!

Hooray!

[Storm Struck]

Different breed down south as usual but yes was always touch and go for the snow at lower levels, unlike 2006 we didnt have the southerly frontal collision rather a cold airmass which was proberly abit too weak in terms of being a widespread regional event ( as in from sea level upwards).
The heavy bands around 1am had some wet snow in them mixed with sleet, but a healthy dolop of rain anyway.

[Nev]

Looks like Greymouth Aero also managed about 155mm in 24 hrs.

[Richard]

Power has just been resupplied after it was lost at 11.30pm last night,ended up with 16cm and once the snow in the gauge had thawed out there was 51mm,but there would have been at least another 10mm more than that has a lot of snow would have fallen off the top of the gauge,so drought over at long last.

[Skywatcher]

I recorded 36.6mm for the event here - minimum temp overnight was 1.8C just after the heaviest rain.

I see Mt Hutt have updated their report as 1.2m of snow and are having to trigger avalanches. The access road is blocked by downed power poles and lines.

[spwill]

Looks like the ski fields are set up for a good Winter.
Great to read this thread, I'm up in the tropics currently

[David]

Great photos Richard, looks lovely

[Hordur]

on Wed 17/06/2015 11:26
Depends where you are. The setup looks ripe for an epic dump of snow for much of inland Canterbury and Otago. A truly memorable event, far more significant than any snow we have had so far this winter. I would not be surprised if some ski fields complain about receiving too much snow causing problems with access, avalanches, etc... I am very excited.

"I see Mt Hutt have updated their report as 1.2m of snow and are having to trigger avalanches. The access road is blocked by downed power poles and lines."

I have to give myself a little pat on the back for that, thanks for the report, skywatcher, and everyone else who has contributed.

[melja]

Stunning photos Richard, just left Hawarden and power and phone still out there. Guy at 4 square said about 9in this morning.

[melja]

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[Orion]

Nice photos, and nice to see the sun out here at last.

[Bradley]

Metservice got the maximum horribly wrong for Christchurch today by 6C, on the whole though they have been very impressive over the past 2 days with this system, they didn't give in to the hype and forecast snow for Christchurch last night which would have been very easy to do...

[Paul Mallinson]

Metservice... ...they didn't give in to the hype and forecast snow for Christchurch last night which would have been very easy to do...

I'd like to say that that is because the people that work there are trained professionals. They look at the data and apply the science. If you stick to the rules (the science), it will get you through with the best outcome - not always right, but usually the best outcome given what is known at the time about a very complex animal - the atmosphere.

[Richard]

Some good photos all round

Getting a rapid melt now with a strong NW blowing

[melja]

Yeah hats off the M/S they got the amounts and snow line about spot on just the area shifted a little north, not sure on the wind directions forecast tho

[Bradley]

Well said Paul, it is certainly the process that gets the best results most often isn't it? On another note can I ask you in your own opinion if you think places like Christchurch, Ashburton and Timaru are a chance of breaking some all time minimum records on Tuesday and Wednesday morning? Or are the current Metservice predicted minimums for those days plan to be scaled back? Seems like an almost perfect setup for extreme minimum temps though?

[TonyT]

Yeah hats off the M/S they got the amounts and snow line about spot on just the area shifted a little north, not sure on the wind directions forecast tho

They had snow to 400m till Thursday morning.

[Bradley]

Nice forecast for next week Tony, reminds me a bit of the early July 2001 weather where Lake Lyndon froze!!

[melja]

Thats why i said the area shifted a little north than first expected Tony
While i do admire your work Tony as im not a farmer i tend not to see your forecasts but i do look when you give us your thoughts on the forum

[TonyT]

Nice forecast for next week Tony, reminds me a bit of the early July 2001 weather where Lake Lyndon froze!!

Skating on Lake Ida this year perhaps?