Snow Season New Zealand 2010 Has Now Officially Started

ByNew Zealand Travel Insider

Written on Tuesday, 8 June 2010 by NZTravelInsider

Learn how the 2010 snow season in New Zealand is currently unfolding and what the current snow conditions are on the North and South Island of New Zealand.

If you’ve been following New Zealand Travel Insider, I’ve been reporting on snow conditions and writing about snow here in New Zealand leading up to my own winter trip to Queenstown later this month.

The latest on the snow conditions is that snow began falling in New Zealand on May 27, 2010. The first big dumping of snow was in Central Otago near Dunedin.

Snow has continued falling in New Zealand right throughout the beginning of June, but more so on the South Island than on the North Island.

Secondly, Coronet Peak was the first ski field to open its doors last weekend on Saturday. While I think some of the snow on Coronet Peak is man-made, skiers enjoyed breaking in the snow on the ski slopes.

Other ski fields on the South Island and North Island of New Zealand will soon follow. You can view the opening dates of the New Zealand ski fields and also see a map of New Zealand ski fields to know where exactly they’re located on the North or South Island of New Zealand.

Lake Tekapo has been buried in snow for almost a week now. You might know that Lake Tekapo is located at an elevation of approximately 720 meters, so is highly likely to get snow. In Queenstown, the Remarkables have been snow-capped since the end of May. While the snow receded a bit last week, it is again halfway down the mountain range. And the mountains in Wanaka are also snow-capped at the moment. You can monitor snow conditions for all 3 South Island towns by having a look at a few snow cams in New Zealand.

Last night, about 30 cm of snow fell in the Lindis Pass area and other alpine passes also received a good amount of snow. Snow has also fallen on the Desert Road on the Central Plateau, so the North Island was not spared from the dumping of snow in New Zealand.

While all of this snowfall might make your heart beat a little bit faster if you like snow, I must also tell you that lots of rain has come along with it. So much so that a lot of surface flooding has taken place and some roads and highways have been closed.

So if you’re planning on driving to anywhere in New Zealand, it is best to visit websites such as the AA Roadwatch or the NZ Transport Agency (click on the Road & travel info tab) to check the road conditions for your planned driving routes in New Zealand. You might either have to change or cancel your plans, or look for alternate routes to get to your destination.

All in all, I myself am very much looking forward to enjoying some of the snow, but am also hoping that the weather will improve a bit, because it has been very cold and wet lately.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like…

Similar Posts