NZ Weekly Weather Blog – It’s All Coming to an End

10cm of new snow at Mt Hutt 4 October. Image:: Mt Hutt

Snow Journal| Matt White

Kia Ora everyone, For most of us the ski season is now over… that is if you rely on chairlifts to get up to the snow, if you’re a keen hiker then you’ll find plenty of snow around… you just gotta work alot harder for it!! It’s been quite an incredible spring really when you look back on it, not much wind, lots of sun and more importantly hardly any rain. Quite a few mountains have closed with more snow than usual, “why would they close then??” you may ask, well usually it’s due to their leases expiring, or the fact that there is only season pass holders still around, which makes it hard to cover the costs that are associated with day to day operations.

However not everyone is closed yet, in the North Island you can expect mountains such as Turoa and Whakapapa to be open for up to another month. Down south Mt Hutt, Coronet Peak, Mt Olympus, Snow Farm and Broken River are still open for a couple more weeks (snow depending of course).. by all accounts I’ve heard that the snow is good and well worth a road trip if you’re a die hard ski/snow bum.

I made it up to Snow Park on Saturday for their closing day which was a load of fun, they put a whole lot of boxes together, creating ‘boxzilla’ and the challenge was to see who could make it to the end… not quite sure who won but there were a few very close calls! For Sunday I made it up for a half day at Treble Cone’s closing day (a little hungover from exploits at Snow Park the day before) and arrived to a sea of people dressed up in crazy outfits… it was chaos! You name it, there was someone dressed up as it. It was a great way to spend the last day of the season, everyone was in good spirits and getting amongst the festivities/barbecues/beers that were on offer. I would imagine quite a few found it hard to go back to work after yesterday’s Sunday session!

Lets take a look at the weather for the remainder of the resorts still open..
For most of the country theres a bit of a storm hovering over, the freezing level is quite high for the North Island but Canterbury might see a bit of snowfall coming their way!

North Island
Whakapapa/Turoa/Tukino-Tuesday looks overcast with patches of rain and N winds ranging between 40 – 60km/hr, Showers continue for Wednesday through Friday with snow forecast to fall down to 1700m and light winds. For the weekend it looks relatively fine, possibility of a few showers Saturday night but otherwise it should be a ripper!
Maunganui– Be prepared for rain Tuesday through to Thursday afternoon with moderate to strong SE winds, clearing up for Friday and continuing through for a fine and calm weekend.

South Island
Canterbury
Broken River, Mt Hutt, Mt Olympus– SNOW is coming your way, down to 800m over the next few days – clearing up Wednesday night and becoming moderately fine with the chance of a couple of scattered showers for Thursday Friday. For the weekend it looks like it will be relatively clear and sunny, a few small showers Saturday night but fine again for Sunday.
Southern Lakes
Snow Farm, Coronet Peak– Tuesday will begin with low fog and maybe a couple of small showers, Wednesday-Thursday look set to be sunny with light winds and patches of cloud. Friday may hold a few small showers but otherwise its looking set to be a lovely warm and sunny weekend.

Here’s how the resorts are shaping up snow-wise

Snow Bases across the country (cm)

Whakapapa 208
Turoa 307
Tukino 320
Manganui 251
Rainbow Closed for season
Hamner Springs Closed for season
Mt Lyford Closed for season
Mt Hutt 90
Porters Closed for season
Mt Cheeseman Closed for season
Mt Olympus 100
Cragieburn Closed for season
Temple Basin Closed for season
Broken River 152
Fox Peak Closed for season
Mt Dobson Closed for season
Roundhill Closed for season
Ohau Closed for season
Treble Cone Closed for season
Cardrona Closed for season
Snow Park Closed for season
Snow Farm 75
Coronet Peak 120
Remarkables Closed for season
Queenstown Snowcats Closed for season

If you’re hanging your boots up for the season, thanks for tuning in and I will see you back here next season.. hopefully we get some more powder than we did this season!! If you still have a few days left in you I will see you back here same time next week.. Hope you have a great week!!

Matt White

Cardrona forecasts,
snow reports and
live snow cams.

Turoa forecasts,
snow reports and
live snow cams.

Whakapapa forecasts,
snow reports and
live snow cams.

Mount Hutt forecasts,
snow reports and
live snow cams.