Mt Ruapehu’s Turoa skifield opens its season on Saturday with a record base for this time of the year
June 20, 2009
Filed under New Zealand
Tags: brrr, chilly, climate, climate change, cold, cold weather, early snow, freezing, global cooling, Global Freeze, global freezing, global warming, ice, Kaimai Ranges, Levin, Masterton, MetService, Mt Ruapehu, Nelson, New Zealand, Pauatahanui Inlet, Porirua, ski, ski field, skifield, skiing, temperature, temperatures, Tongariro, Turoa, Turoa skifield, weather, winter
Cold conditions expected to continue
NZPA/Newstalk ZB
Published: 6:32AM Saturday June 20, 2009
State Highway 29 across the Kaimai Ranges has been re-opened on a limited basis.
The road was closed on Saturday morning due to ice.
Cars are being led through the worst of the conditions in batches and Police expect to fully re-open the road later Saturday morning.
Road conditions are still considered as marginal and drivers are asked to take extreme care. Click here to keep up to date with road closures around New Zealand.
The cold southerly making its way up the North Island is expected to making for chilly viewing conditions at the second rugby test against France in Wellington on Saturday night.
Forecasters are predicting the temperature could drop as low as 4degC, with a numbing wind and showers passing through.
However, the freezing conditions are good news for Mt Ruapehu’s Turoa skifield, which opens its season on Saturday with a record base for this time of the year.
Up to 4000 people are expected on the mountain this weekend. Neighbouring Whakapapa skifield is due to open next weekend.
MetService forecaster Vive Biukoto said more snow was likely at Turoa and on the Desert Road on Sunday.
On Friday, central parts of the country awoke to severe frosts, with -8.6degC recorded in Tongariro, -10.6degC in Nelson, -6.2degC in Masterton, and -5.6degC in Levin.
The edges of the Pauatahanui Inlet, near Porirua, even froze over.
The cold weather is expected to continue well into next week.
