Photo: SuppliedWinter has arrived slightly early in the South Island, with freezing temperatures and dustings of snow in many places this morning. A midnight storm dumped about a centimetre of snow onto the Porters Alpine Resort near Castle Hill near Arthur's Pass early this morning. And parts of inland Canterbury and Otago woke to below-zero temperatures, down to -3.2 deg C.Porters operations manager Blair James hoped the cold snap was an early indicator of good snowfall this season. He said the dump marked two weeks in a row of snowfall and cold temperatures - weather which makes him hopeful for a good season to come. The agency said Dunedin, Queenstown and Wanaka will all only touch the 10 deg C mark.

Source: Otago Daily Times April 27, 2021 02:26 UTC