Snow, ice hamper travel in south

Press, 16 July 1982, Page 1

Snow, ice hamper travel in south

Ice and snow continued to hamper or prevent travel on high-country roads in several parts of the South Island yesterday. However, Christchurch and the Canterbury Plains enjoyed a day of warm sunshine and blue skies.

Passengers on the morning bus from Christchurch to the West Coast had to transfer to the railcar when it became obvious that the bus could not negotiate the ice and snow on Arthur's Pass. .

A Railways Department maintenance bus slid off the road near the pass but there were no injuries. The bus will be recovered when conditions permit. With continuing snow and heavy frosts predicted, the bad conditions on high-coun-try roads are likely to continue today.. . The Automobile- Association reported last evening that chains were essential on State Highway 73 between Arthur’s Pass and Otira. Extreme care was needed between ' Arthur’s' .Pass and Porters Pass, where the road was very icy in parts. - Chains were advised and extreme care required on the Lewis Pass, which was closed to heavy traffic. The Haast Pass highway was also very .icy. The Lindis Pass was open with a warning to motorists to beware of frozen snow.

Snow, sleet, and hail showers continued to disrupt transport and schools, in

Southland and Otago yesterday,- the Press Association reported. Schools in outlying areas closed for the day. Rural mail deliveries were expected to be disrupted. A 16km wide belt of bad weather covered central Southland and coastal and Central Otago on Wednesday. This spread overnight, bringing heavy snowfalls to the Five Rivers-Kingston area. The manager of the Automobile Association (Southland), Mr O. H. Gimblett, advised motorists travelling north to take extreme care.

State highway 1 from Invercargill to Dunedin had been affected by snow from south of Balclutha to Dunedin and was passable only with extreme care. Chains were recommended on the. northern motorway out of Dunedin, after a frost on top of Wednesday’s snow, while suburban streets within the city were also affected by snow and had become treacherous, Mr Gimblett said.

, In Southland, 15cm of snow fell overnight on State highway 6, from Lumsden to Queenstown, in the .area from Five Rivers to Kingston. . '

Graders have been working on the. road, and it is passable with extreme care, as is State highway 94, from Mossburn to Te Anau, where there is 10cm of snow in places. The Te Anau-Milford road

was opened yesterday morning to vehicles with chains or four-wheel drive.

State highway 90, from Gore to Raes Junction, 1 requires extreme .. care and State highway 8, from Roxburgh to Alexandra, is closed.

In the North Island, the worst weather of the year round Waiouru and Mount Ruapehu was reported yesterday as snow froze into ice and a number of cars skidded off roads along State highway 49, between Raetihi and Waiouru.

The Desert Road running north from Waiouru was closed at 7 a.m. yesterday. In Wellington, it was reported that scientists at the South Pole this winter had reported the lowest temperature recorded there —ll7 deg.. Fahrenheit. The "Meteorological Service said that this was about —B3 deg. Celsius.

. The American National Science Foundation said that the record low was recorded at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole station on June 23, under clear skies with a light wind blowing. ' '

The previous record cold at the.-Pole was —ll3 deg. Fahrenheit, measured in July, 1965.

However, ■ the record low. on the Antarctic continent is' —127 degrees Fahrenheit,, recorded on August 24, 1960, at the Soviet station at Vostok, in Wilkes Land.