Round Hill

South Island Detailed Forecast

The Mountainwatch Detailed Forecast is provided by our resident meteorology sensei "The Grasshopper". The South Island analysis is issued around 7am every morning (maybe later on weekends) and is intended to provide an additional human element to the automated forecast data provided above. Sometimes we won't agree exactly with the model data - but if we ever call something significantly different we'll do our best to explain why.

7:00am Monday 21 August 2017

Conditions Summary:
Mt Hutt continues its kick-ass season with yet more snow overnight, and it’s still coming down out there. Low cloud is packed into Canterbury with strong southerlies bringing a mix of snow and freezing rain. Further south it is also cloudy with the odd snow shower and fresh southerlies.

Synoptic Outlook:

Well what can we say, obviously upset by its branding by the grasshopper as a meany pants low, this system has spent the weekend dumping the best part of 50cm of snow on Mt Hutt. Sometimes I guess you just have to expect the worst to bring out the best in people/weather systems. And it’s still got another 5-10cm to give us today before winds turn round to the northwest tonight and we finally wave bye-bye to the snow.

Not to be left out, Otago will also see a dusting of another 2-6cm down to 1000m today.

Tomorrow, the high pressure takes control and we are in for some absolutely gorgeous mid-week days. With clear skies, low temps and not even that much wind to contend with, it’s going to be hopper heaven up there.

Image of the day:

Bye-bye snow, hello high. Source:: NZ MetService (vandalised by the Grasshopper)

Monday 21 August:
Partly cloudy in Otago. Snow showers clearing from Canterbury overnight. Southerlies easing.

Tuesday 22 August:
Ding ding. Bluebird.

Wednesday 23 August:
Another beaut day in Canterbury. Some cloud and possibly a flurry or two for Otago, rain below 1600m. Not much wind.

Thursday 24 August:
High cloud in Canterbury. Cloudier and possibly a flurry or two for Otago, rain below 1600m. Northerlies.

Extended Outlook:
These flurries down in Otago in the second half of the week are the result of a front struggling to get onto the country. And it really is struggling, everytime I turn my antenna to a new print out from the magical computer forecast it has slowed it down. At this stage I would not read much into any large number the automatic forecasts are picking for the weekend. I’d like to see a few forecasts in a row agree before I had any confidence.

That's all from the Grasshopper. Wanna keep your finger on the pulse of all things snow? Join my weekly email list by filling in the box above. If you have a question or feedback for me join in the discussion below, or hit me up on facebook or twitter.