South Island ski fields turning it on

South Island ski fields turning it on

The southerly flow which brought another decent dumping of snow to New Zealand's ski fields during the weekend is dying out over the South Island today, making conditions excellent for skiers and snowboarders for the first half of this week. "A ridge of high pressure is building over the South Island, which will bring clear skies and light winds for the next few days," said MetService Meteorologist Stephen Glassey. The North Island ski fields did not miss out either with a snow base now over 2 metres at Whakapapa, although mountain goers there will need to wrap up warm against the cold southerly flow which is expected to persist until late Wednesday.

Cold temperatures in the upper atmosphere also helped produce hail showers in many North Island places during the weekend. Hail was reported as far north as Kaeo in Northland, and it turned lawns white in parts of Waihi. More hail showers are possible for the upper North Island today; however the showers are expected to become confined to eastern and southern parts of the North Island during Tuesday.

The light winds over the South Island will bring severe overnight frosts in many areas, and parts of the North Island will also see frosts.Temperatures begin to warm up towards the end of the week as a northerly flow develops over New Zealand. However, a low is expected to approach from the Tasman Sea on Friday and move over the country during the weekend."This will probably bring a return to colder wetter weather; as well as updating forecasts, we'll also be keeping the All Blacks updated on the possible effect of this on the Bledisloe Cup rugby decider at Eden Park on Saturday night," said Glassey.

Keep up to date with the latest forecasts and any watches/warnings atmetservice.com or on mobile devices at m.metservice.com. You can also follow our updates on MetService TV, at MetService New Zealand on Facebook, @metservice on Twitter and at blog.metservice.com

ENDS

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