20 deg. At Mt John

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32016, 17 June 1969, Page 1

20 deg. At Mt John

(From Our Own Reporter) TIMARU, June 16. Heavy snow blanketed South Canterbury today. The Mount Cook National Park chief ranger (Mr 9. F. Bell) said 7in of snow had fallen since Sunday afternoon. “It snowed heavily during the night,” he said. Southwesterly conditions prevailed in the region, and further heavy falls of snow were likely, said Mr Bell. 9

The Mackenzie Country bore the brunt of today's snowstorm in South Canterbury. At Burke's Pass, 4in of snow felL Snow ploughs were used to clear the highway, and many motorists used chains. On April 15, the astrono-mer-in-charge of the Mount John University Observatory at Lake Tekapo (Mr F. M. Bateson) predicted that the weather would be dry for eight weeks. He also predicted a severe, late, and short winter. Temperatures there

today were in the low 20s. Some areas had been swept

by 40-knot winds. The depth of snow was incalculable, but there were drifts of 3ft to 4ft, said Mr Bateson. Timaru was the whitest it has been with snow since the bad snowstorm in 1945. In the city, a snow flurry was followed by hail and rain, and the temperature at 11.30 a.m. was 33 degrees. There was only light hail at the Timaru Airport at Levels, where the temperature at noon was 31 degrees, but in some areas hail lay to a depth of lin, and snow lay as thickly in the suburbs and outlying districts. At 1 p.m. Timaru city was again bathed in sunshine.