SNOW ALERT NZ – It will hit, and it will hit hard

June 18th, 2013


Turns are going to be a fair bit deeper than that this weekend. Image:: Vaughan Brookfield

Mountainwatch | Snow Alert

UPDATE:

The elements are coming together, and like Big Kev always yelled, “I’m Excited!” . It turns out The Grasshopper is a tad excited too. He said, “I am rendered almost speechless by the awesomeness that is about to descend on the South Island’s ski-fields. On top of an already healthy base for this early in the season this is going to set Canterbury up for the next couple of months, and will see the Southern Lakes sorted until well into July as well.”

Stay tuned San Diego…

Snow Likelihood rating: The first big one of the year

Well, things couldn’t be shaping up any more perfectly for the Canterbury region and the Southern Lakes with a further 40 + cm snowfall on the way to Canterbury and about 15 cm to low levels in the Southern Lakes.

Resorts in the Southern Lakes will be looking to open in the next two weeks and this snow will add to the 40 – 50 cm that has fallen already this week higher up at resorts like The Remarkables and Treble Cone.

When we quizzed The Grasshopper on this system he said, “A big low pressure system straddling New Zealand will be pushed out to the east over the next 24 hours as a high pressure system muscles in from the west. The ridge of high pressure which digs in south of New Zealand contributes to a steeper pressure gradient (stronger winds) and a southerly change (making it bloody cold).”

With this super cold feed it’s looking like it will snow to quite low levels, “These snowy southerlies like to pick on Canterbury, so once it really gets going around midday tomorrow we could put on 30 to 50cm over 24 hours, tending back to snow showers on Friday that gradually clear by Saturday. The Southern Lakes aren’t quite so lucky, but a good 15 to 30cm is still a decent bet. This is going to be fun.” When The Grasshoppergets excited we really know it’s going to be something special.

If you’re anywhere in the vicinity of the Southern Lakes over the next few days it is definitely time to get excited, pow days ahead!