State Highway 8 and SH80 reopen after snow closure
The road winding east along SH8 toward Burkes Pass township in the South Island.
Photo:
Supplied / New Zealand Transport Agency
Two sections of State Highway in the Mackenzie Country that were closed overnight - because of risk from snow and ice - have now reopened.
State Highway 8 between Twizel and Fairlie and SH80 between Lake Pukaki and Aoraki/Mt Cook were closed on Saturday night as a safety precaution to both motorists and crews working on the roads.
The New Zealand Transport Agency said the crews had been busy gritting and treating areas of ice on the roads.
The road closures were lifted around 10am on Sunday.
However, motorists are still advised to take care when travelling.
A road snowfall warning is still in place for Porters Pass (SH73) and the Crown Range Road until Monday morning.
MetService said warmer than average conditions over summer and the start of autumn had made this weekend's chilly blast all the more noticeable.
Parts of the country awoke to their coldest morning of the year on Sunday with sub zero temperatures across the South Island as well as in Hamilton and parts of Wellington.
Christchurch residents also reported the year's first dusting of snow on the Port Hills this morning.
MetService Meteorologist Devlin Lynden said Mackenzie Basin dipped to a low of - 8°C while Wanaka and Queenstown recorded lows of - 5°C.
He says - further north - the capital's weather station in Porirua recorded a low of - 1.3°C while Hamilton also touched freezing point reaching down to zero degrees.
Auckland escaped with a comparatively mild 5°C while Whakatāne and Tauranga hovered at 2°C.
Lynden said warmer than average conditions earlier in the year made Sunday morning's chilly blast all the more pronounced.
"Through the start of summer and autumn we had lots of these northerly storm cycles - bringing quite a bit of moisture to the likes of Northland," Lynden said.
"But with these storm cycles we also get quite warm conditions that's added to the shock value of this polar blast that we're experiencing right now."
He said the cold temperatures were expected to linger into this week.
"The next few days will still be quite chilly - perhaps a bit warmer than this morning - but as we look into the mid-week there will be some lifting of temperatures into lows of 10°C for some parts of the North Island.
"But with that there will also be some rain unfortunately and cloudy conditions later on this week," Lynden said.
He said snow forecast to fall as low as 400 metres on the mountain passes above the Canterbury Plains and Banks Peninsula could make driving treacherous in coming days.
MetService has Road Snowfall Warnings in place for SH73, Porter's pass and the Crown Range Road into Monday morning.
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