Christchurch gets real taste of winter

Press, 16 June 1986, Page 1

Christchurch gets real taste of winter

Christchurch shivered yesterday as temperatures plummeted and the city was given its first dusting of snow for the year

Snow on the Port Hills closed the ' main Akaroa highway at Hilltop to vehicles without chains. Chains were also needed to negotiate Arthur’s Pass yesterday morning, although both roads were clear in the afternoon.

A Ministry of Transport spokesman said the cold temperatures had caused problems in North Canterbury with ice forming on shaded parts of road, but the snow and hail did little to disrupt traffic in the wider Christchurch area.

Severe frosts forecast for this morning could cause problems, he said.

Farmers were not expecting stock losses as a result of the low temperatures.

A meteorologist with the Meteorological Office at Christchurch Airport, Mr Chris Webster, said a cold front hit Christchurch from the south between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. yesterday. It had caused heavy snowfalls at Dunedin but the snow had missed Timaru and Ashburton. The foothills near Methven had a light dusting of snow. Temperatures had been below zero before the

southerly arrived and frost had been forming, said Mr Webster.

The air temperature remained at 3deg. or 4deg. for most of the morning but rose to 6deg. at 11 a.m.

The first showers of snow hit Christchurch about midday and the temperature fell to 2deg. Snow continued to fall in several showers yesterday but did not settle because of accompanying rain. The southerly was expected to clear last night after more snow showers. Severe frosts were forecast for this morning, especially inland, said Mr Webster.

He said a 9.9 deg. frost at Christchurch Airport on Saturday morning was close to the June record of 10.1 set in 1978. More southerlies were forecast for this afternoon but no snow was expected. The Ministry of Agriculture farm advisory officer at Darfield, Mr Ken Mus-croft-Taylor, said snow was well down on the hills but was very light. He did not expect farmers to lose much stock because of the snow. Most of the snow on lower land had cleared by yesterday afternoon.

About scm of snow fell overnight between Sheffield and Otira, forcing vehicles using State highway 73 to use chains. The road was clear yesterday but the Automobile Association (Canterbury) was advising motorists last evening to carry chains. They were also advised to carry chains on Banks Peninsula.

The operations manager of the Mount Hutt skifield, Mr Phil Witton, said 11cm to 12cm of snow had fallen at the field on Saturday night, accompanied by cold'temperatures.

Strong, southerly winds blew the newly fallen snow about yesterday, blocking the access road and forcing the field to close for the day. Mr Witton said there still was not enough snow to open the upper lifts but yesterday’s snow should provide good ski-ing on the lower slopes. The Mount Cheeseman ski-field might open next week-end.

The president of the Canterbury Winter Sports Club, Mr Peter Falconer, said yesterday’s snow should have topped up the field enough for it to be

manned by club staff next week-end. Paid staff would not be at the field) until the end of the month.

Porter Heights received between scm and 10cm of snow yesterday but not enough to open the skifield, said the field’s manager, Mr Uli Dinsenbacher.

“We need another good snow fall. It looks promising but we do not want to rush in,” he said.

At least eight trucks and some cars became stranded on Dunedin’s northern motorway yesterday morning, with other main coastal roads also affected.

Snow fell up to 10cm deep in Dunedin’s hill suburbs.

The northern motorway was closed for about half an hour from 11.30 a.m., while the backlog of stranded vehicles was cleared. At least one car slid into the side of a truck.

Temperatures were low throughout Otago yesterday. Readings of sdeg. were reported at Oamaru and Alexandra at 3 p.m., with 4deg. recorded in Dunedin, 2deg. at Dunedin Airport, and 3deg. at Queenstown.