A cold snap down south has seen a mid-spring deluge of snow fall near Queenstown.
Newshub cameraman Jeff Aldridge captured stunning pics near the Otago town, showing vehicles, bicycles and the roads blanketed in white.
Temperatures in Queenstown dropped to 3C overnight, MetService says, while WeatherWatch is predicting they'll stay single-digits on Monday, reaching a high of 9C around midday.
"Snow lowers to 400m about Southland/Otago and 500m for Canterbury as the cold change pushes through," said WeatherWatch. "The coolest temperatures will be about the Southern Alps and Fiordland."
Tuesday morning is expected to be just as cold, dipping to 2C around the time most residents will be waking up and again struggling to reach double-figures.
"Cooler than normal conditions are likely to continue through the week, with periods of rain in most places," MetService said, citing the arrival of a southwesterly airflow.
"Snow could fall as low as 600m in the far south on Tuesday."
WeatherWatch head forecaster Philip Duncan said over the next few days, "high pressure parked over Tasmania and low pressure down in the Southern Ocean tilts the winds more southwest. This encourages colder air up and over the South Island - not so bad further north."
Queenstown's cold snap is expected to break by the weekend, with temperatures set to hit 18C.
"It warms up fast on Saturday," said Duncan. "Simply the normal spring ups and downs as winter fades as slowly and we gradually get more and more hints of summer."
The Queenstown ski season usually ends in early October, but Cardrona remains open, with a base of about 1m of snow. Both the Remarkables and Coronet Peak have closed.
Newshub.
