Snow could fall at sea level across the South Island and in parts of the North Island next week as a cold front sweeps across New Zealand.
The cold weather could bring the first October snowfall in Christchurch in more than half a century.
MetService meteorologist Ciaran Doolin said October snowfall was last recorded in Christchurch in 1969.
“There is a very cold air mass coming up from Antarctica in the middle of next week,’’ he said.
“The cold air could mean we get snow to quite low levels, potentially to sea level in some of the main centres of the South Island.”
KEVIN STENT/Stuff
A wet and cold Sunday in Wellington didn’t stop Jamie How and his aunt Julie Paxie of Tauranga from braving the city’s waterfront ahead of attending the World of WearableArt show on Sunday afternoon.
He said the cold front will arrive in Southland at noon on Tuesday and arrive in the North Island late Tuesday and into Wednesday.
“It is probably likely to be a brief affair, but in elevated places there is a risk of heavier snow.”
The blast of Antarctic air could also bring low temperatures and rain to the rest of New Zealand.
Temperatures are forecast to drop on Wednesday, MetService meteorologist John Law said.
MONIQUE FORD/Stuff
Rain, wind and chilly temperatures are expected in the first week of the school holidays as a cold southerly outbreak makes its way up the country.
“That will bring some showers and plenty of cold air.”
“It is going to be windy and cold, and the combination of those two things together will make it feel pretty miserable.”
Much of the North Island should also expect rain to stick around on Monday, said Law.
“What we’ve got at the moment is an area of low pressure. That brought all the wet weather into places like the Bay of Plenty yesterday [Saturday], and that’s still across the North Island today [Sunday].”
“We’ve got some more showers to come [on Sunday]. Some of those can be fairly heavy, particularly across the more central parts of the North Island.”
“As we head in towards tomorrow, that slowly pulls away out towards the east, and we should start to find higher pressure build in behind it.”
But it’s not all bad news – next weekend is set to see much more settled weather, said Law.
Christchurch is in for a chilly week, with lows of -1C expected on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Auckland will see a rainy week ahead, clearing by the weekend. Temperatures will drop later in the week, with lows of 5C expected on Thursday and Friday.
Strong southerlies and rain are forecast until Friday for Wellington, followed by a fine weekend. A low of 2C is predicted on Wednesday.
The Press reported on the last time snow fell in Christchurch during October.
The snow fell in the early hours of October 10, 1969.
“Snow showers, often quite thick, fell in Christchurch and in coastal areas north of the city from 6am … but the snow began to thaw by 9am in most places,” the paper reported.
The city had heavier snowfall the year before on October 11, 1968.
The Press reported that “flakes the size of a fifty cent piece fell in Cathedral Square”.
“Snow piled up on the bonnets of cars and against tree-trunks in Hagley Park, and in north-western suburbs the snow lay quite thickly,” the paper reported.
“In Cathedral Square a group of about 25 youths enjoyed themselves in a snowball fight with two guests in a room on the first floor of Warners Hotel.
”The youths scraped snow from the roofs of cars parked outside “The Press” building to fashion the missiles, while the hotel guests used snow gathered on their balcony.
“The somewhat unequal fight continued for about five minutes before the guests gave up.”
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