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ALDEN WILLIAMS/Stuff
Alex Morton and Freya off for a walk in the snow near Dyers Pass Rd in Canterbury on Thursday.
Kiwis have woken to a frosty morning following “freezing overnight temperatures” with the lowest recording at -6C, but settled weather and clear skies are expected to mark the end of the working week.
MetService meteorologist April Clark said the fine but icy weather that graced the lower South Island on Thursday is due to a ridge of high pressure which has started to move in behind the cold front.
Snow and showers were expected to clear, with blue skies expected for most of the country on Friday as the ridge moves north.
But Clark said this made the “perfect recipe for freezing overnight temperatures”, with people waking to a frosty Friday.
Many inland regions of the South Island were expected to have dropped more than a couple of degrees below zero.
Waking up on Friday morning, the Twizel township plunged to -6C.
On Friday, Queenstown is expecting to reach a high of 8C, with Christchurch in for a high of 9C and a low of -2C. Early Friday morning the temperature had ever so slightly warmed up sitting at -1.9C before 7am.
Dunedin would see a high of 10C with a low of 4C.
Christchurch/Stuff
Snow blanketed Christchurch’s Port Hills on Thursday leading to a number of road closures.
In the North Island, Aucklanders were facing a temperature high of 13C with a low of 8C, whereas for Hamiltonians slightly further south the low was OC with a peak of 12C.
It would only reach 9C in the capital city, with a low of 2C.
The coldest temperatures in the North Island would most likely happen Saturday morning with Masterton set to drop to -3C.
For skiers in the north, Mt Ruapehu is under the pump with around 10-15cm of new snow blanketing the mountain this week. Tūroa’s slopes even have the highest snow base in the country with 255cm this season.
To bring out the best for the North Island skiers this weekend workers are already de-icing and maintaining avalanche control work for safer riding as more snow is expected to arrive.
This comes after an icy Thursday for much of the country with snow in the South Island closing several roads, lowering to 500 to 600m over the lower and central North Island.
“The Women’s World Cup quarter-finals in Wellington and Auckland on Friday have picked their weather window well,” Clark said.
“However, layers will be the key, even if the packed stadiums will help raise the cool temperatures by a degree or two.”
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