Snow welcomed by skifield operators

Otago Daily Times

3 days ago

Snow at long last reappeared in Otago yesterday with the long drought ending for skifield operators.
Snow was falling across parts of Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes District Council and the Danseys Pass Rd was closed.
There were also warnings is place for State Highway 6 between Kingston and Lumsden, and SH85 between Ranfurly and Becks, and snow had fallen on the Crown Range Rd. Naseby also received a good dusting.
Both The Remarkables and Coronet Peak received 10cm of snow each. Over the hill, Cardrona and Treble Cone also enjoyed some snow.
The skifields had endured a "dry July" where next to no snow fell in the month.
The Remarkables had received 89cm to date, when its seasonal average is more than 3.5m. Coronet Peak has had 57cm, but averages about 1m.
NZSki boss Paul Anderson said without their snowmaking systems and high-tech groomers, the two ski areas would not have been open.
"Snowmaking's been the hero.
"It's what keeps us running and open in a year like this."
Although there are scarce options for those wanting to venture off-piste, high-quality skiing on the main runs has been maintained, Mr Anderson said.
Snowfall has been well below average, "but these things do fix themselves".
Last year, after a dry July and unsettled August, there was a "very, very snowy September".
Despite the Australian skifields now enjoying a good season, visitation to Coronet Peak and The Remarkables has remained "pretty solid", up 10-15% on last July, Mr Anderson said.
The Cardrona and Treble Cone peaks happily welcomed the snow after a few weeks of dry weather.
"In a lean snow year, any top-up is a welcome sight." chief mountain officer Laura Hedley said. ". . . natural snow is the icing on the cake we're all looking forward to."
Having only had a couple of small snowfalls over the last few weeks, the skifields had been reliant on the snowmaking and grooming teams to maintain skiing conditions.
MetService meteorologist Katie Hillyer said this spike in snowfall after a quiet period was in line with typical trends. "Often sort of end of winter towards spring is when we will start to see a few more of these systems from the Southern Ocean that bring those very cold air masses," she said. — Allied Media