A Tempestuous Tuesday for Central Areas.

Rain, snow and chilling winds are forecast to focus on central areas of the country during Tuesday. MetService meteorologists have issued a severe weather warning for heavy rain over the ranges of northern Buller and northwest Nelson and also the Tararua Ranges. There is also a special weather advisory issued covering the likelihood of snow reaching low levels in Canterbury and eastern Marlborough.

MetService Weather Ambassador, Bob McDavitt, explained what makes this event different from what happened around 18 September when hundreds of thousands lambs succumbed to chilling winds in Southland and Otago. "This time the low is coming from Australia. It left Adelaide on Sunday and is expected to cross central New Zealand on Tuesday, bringing in moist air to combine with some cold southerly winds. The low is forecast to deepen and that should strengthen the southerlies between Canterbury and Wellington. This will accentuate the rain over the mountains and allow snow to penetrate down to the foothills, dropping wind chill temperatures to below zero."

This wintry weather is unwelcome news for farmers in the Canterbury foothills where lambing and calving are in full swing. It is also likely to produce difficult driving conditions, especially for mountain roads. The latest road snowfall warnings are available from the www.metservice.co. nz website.

As is typical of spring weather, this cold weather is not expected to last long. On Wednesday, skiers should be able to check out the fresh snow in briefly fine conditions.

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