Jack Frost hit Timaru too with the temperature dropping to -4.4C at 8.30am on Saturday and -3.9C at the same time Sunday. Makgabutlane said the temperatures are in line with what the MetService would expect for this time of year, with more frosts to come.
JOHN BISSET/Stuff
Timaru s Chloe Witika defrosts her car windscreen on Saturday morning after a chilly 4.4 degree start. Tuesday is expected to be a little warmer – especially in the South Island – due to cloud arriving ahead of a cold front, she said. Makgabutlane warned of possible snow overnight on Tuesday into Wednesday morning in the lower and central South Island, Canterbury High Country, the plains and inland down to about 400 metres.
Michael Daly15:31, Jul 03 2021
George Empson
George Empson with his skates on at an ice-covered pond near Tekapo.
After several freezing nights, ice on ponds in the Mackenzie Basin around Tekapo is thick enough to skate on – so that’s what local resident George Empson did on Saturday. “It’s brilliant that we’re getting at last some really good frosts and a hard winter. It hasn’t been like this for three or four years,” Empson, who is a landscape photographer, said. Early Saturday the temperature in the area dropped to around -7 or -8 degrees Celsius, forming ice up to 10cm thick on ponds created out of rainfall runoff from surrounding hills.
As South Canterbury shivered on a second consecutive morning of sub-zero temperatures the region is being warned about a possible "significant” rain event ahead.
Wintry blast sees temperatures nosedive in South Canterbury stuff.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from stuff.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
This is the coldest Twizel has been this year, rivalled only by a -3.5C day at the start of April. Wednesday’s low was also significantly below the 2.6C average for this time of year, but conditions are known to fluctuate in that area, McInnes said. “Minus 6C is on the cold side of things [but] it wouldn’t really raise eyebrows . [it’s not] particularly unusual.”
George Empson/Stuff
Lake Takapō/Tekapo’s Church of the Good Shepherd on Wednesday morning, with steam rising off the lake in the background. The Mackenzie region recorded some of the coldest overnight temperatures in the country on Wednesday.