Looks like NZ missed out. Not so lucky in Samoa!
I have family in Whitianga and they were all evacuated to higher ground haha, better safe than sorry though.

Hiya Dan :wave:

Yeah there was a warning out for us from very early on, I believe the highest wave recorded here was around 90cm right on the East Coast near Gisborne. The Coromandel Penninsula, Great Barrier Is, Waiheke Is (I believe) were also under a warning or watch with people moving up to higher ground. Likewise at Whangamata (along the same stretch of coast as Whitianga) with people shifting up to higher ground, only getting a little 30cm anklesnapper there I believe.

My sis in law is holidaying in Whangamata at her bach atm & said the road out of town was almost choked with people driving up to higher ground.

Although nothing much eventuated, it was a good test of the warning system to alert people to the possibility of the big one, better to be safe than sorry.

There were a few die-hards who refused to move & crowds along some of Aucklands North Shore beaches gathering in groups to wait and watch it come in.. let them do it I say, the gene pool needs regular cleansing

Thanks for that update Dale, I bet Long Bay Beach (where I used to live) would have had a few spectators, they're lucky it didn't hit, I'm sure others would have been blamed rather than themselves if any where injured/killed, but like you said, a few idiots less never did any harm haha.

A nice Winter blast is coming through the South Island. This morning it has been snowing in Queenstown, and also in one of my favourite ever places in the world...
Lake Tekapo .

See webcam here... although it\'s a bit fogged in at the moment

I was there a month ago, and despite weeks of NW winds beforehand, we managed to get a SW'ly front which gave us some snow. The following were taken on September 1 and 2:


The rest of the pics are here.

On the morning of September 2 I took this video of Lake Tekapo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_MxfW-An7M A very cool place

That blast made its way up here yesterday afternoon and overnight James, dropping about 1m of snow around Taupo here in the central N.I. causing a state of civil emergency in the area, 75-100 people are trapped in their vehicles this morning along the Napier-Taupo Road (State Highway 5)

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10601361

It is BITTERLY BLOODY COLD in South Auckland this morn 8am NZDT.
Sure we are in spring still?!

Wow, a very strong southerly blast is about to hit NZ (especially the South Island). Christchurch is only forecast to reach 6C max tomorrow, incredible for October!

Wouldn't that be the same southerly blast that affected TAS, VIC and southern NSW this week?

Dale, I saw these rather staggering reports... quite an amazing amount of snow... and it was October!

Some nice forecasts for Friday... with metservice saying snow down to 200m in Marlborough and Canterbury... but really, sea level snow is a possiblity. Currently, cold rain is falling in many areas... Christchurch is at 5C at the moment with 7C the forecast max tomorrow - if they're lucky!

The Hanmer Springs and Lake Tekapo webcams will be worth watching

Solid snow right through Canterbury this morning James, now to wait another day for the system to work up to the N.I. & (potentially) cause a repeat of last weekend. As nice as it would be, hoping it wont be too bad, last couple of days of school holidays so everyone will be hitting the roads to head home.. not the kind of thing you would want, being stuck with a carload of screaming kids

I can report up to 10cm of the white stuff just outside of Christchurch at 280m asl

how much of an epic snowfall is this
http://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/1200-nz-skiers-still-stranded/14818

Might be worth mentioning this here,
Keep an eye out for what happens in Dunedin NZ Sunday night, 850 temps of -10 and a very deep southerly should settle snow right on the coast. I think there should be snow in that city square on Monday morning at the latest.
http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/council-online/weather_information

Will be interesting how inland places go as well like Wanaka, Tekapo, Alexandra will have to be a pretty deep freeze.

Snow has now settled in downtown Dunedin, looks like a nice cover in the town square.

Snow has been laying pretty much as a full light cover in downtown Dunedin all day now. Will be interesting what its like first thing tomorrow, roads could be fully covered tonight.

NZ needs the blocking high over SE Aus to get fronts which is what is occurring atm. They have had a poor start to the ski season because the highs have been over them, benefiting us of course. But the tables are now turning I'm afraid.

Snow to sea level as far north as Motueka (near Nelson)! Also reported in the capital, slightly further south.

Access-R is still showing thickness of 520dm at 3PM around the Wellington region - going to be some major issues on the Rimutaka highway.

GFS is forecasting snow too for Palmerston North - never seen that before.

Looks like the coldest cold snap of the winter is about to hit NZ late Sunday. This is looking big with 850's of -10 across much of the South Island and 500mb temps of -40. Looking at the polar charts you can see how the front originates straight off the Antarctic. Not sure how significant this is for NZ since I do not follow the weather there all the time but it sure looks massive.
There was snow in the Dunedin town square for about a day last time, will be watching with interest again.
http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/council-online/weather_information

Hi,

It is very significant - I have never seen the 520dm thickness line forecast all the way up to around Hamilton (-37.5 deg S) so this has potential to give the largest snow dump in decades over the Lower and Central North Island.

Get this - GFS is forecasting 500mb temps at midnight tonight just off Otago Peninsular of -45C!

Macquarie Island feeling the chill right now, on -4C, further north Enderby Island on -1C.

All looks very interesting!

Gee that is cold for Macquarie Island, funny they only got a light dusting.
Snow has started to settle in Dunedin now in the Octagon.
Yes those are phenomenal temps at 500mb, will certainly be quite special in the NI since they rarely see snow that low.

Heavy snow in Wellington this evening - apparently the most significant fall there for 30 years or so. It wasn't entirely clear to me from the reports I saw whether it fell all the way to sea level (many of Wellington's suburbs are at 100-200 metres) but certainly an impressive event nonetheless.