![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a-funnel-cloud-sighted-off-opunake-in-southern-taranaki-PZEVLYWNMFFTPOL54SPY7NQPOY.png\")
<\/p>\nSouth Island motorists have been urged to take “extreme care” as a chilly southwesterly flow swept over the country, dropping temperatures and bringing snow to alpine passes.<\/p>\n
The southwesterly flow has also brought unsettled skies further north, with a funnel cloud seen in southern Taranaki.<\/p>\n
New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi said part of State Highway 73 between Christchurch and the West Coast was closed earlier due to the snow. <\/p>\n
The section between Springfield and Arthurs Pass Village, including Porters Pass, was closed just before 4am, and reopened about 5.20am.<\/p>\n
“While ‘winter’ driving conditions also persist in other parts of the South Island today, including State Highway 1 Dunedin to Waitati, there are no current state highway closures in the South,” an NZTA spokesperson said. <\/p>\n
MetService had on road snowfall warning still in place for Desert Rd in the North Island.<\/p>\n
The forecaster said snow showers would clear slowly this morning, and another 1cm could accumulate above about 700 metres.<\/p>\n
It said the southwesterly flow had brought a cold and frosty start to some, with Ashburton the coldest spot at 0C at 7am, while W\u0101naka and Milford Sound sat at 1C.<\/p>\n
Scattered showers were expected to continue before easing from this afternoon.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A funnel cloud sighted off Opunake in southern Taranaki. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n
Funnel cloud off Taranaki<\/p>\n
Photos sent to 1News showed a funnel cloud off the south Taranaki coast near Opunake about 9am.<\/p>\n
Marama Hohaia said it was already forming when she saw it during kura drop off.<\/p>\n
“We watched it for about 30 seconds and it fizzled out again but was very loud then as we were driving home we had real heavy winds.”<\/p>\n
MetService forecaster Samkelo Magwala said a series of fronts was moving up the country, with a ridge of high pressure over the Tasman Sea creating the southwesterly flow.<\/p>\n
“There’s that possibility of some form of convective cloud,” Magwala said.<\/p>\n
“The atmospheric conditions are conducive. There’s cold temperatures aloft, which are more consistent for the formation of such clouds.”<\/p>\n
MetService said yesterday that temperatures across the country were set to plunge, with Auckland forecast to drop to 4C on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Frosts are expected across much of the country later this week, before the next weather system arrives on Friday.<\/p>\n
The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including the Taxpayers Union fires back at Nicky Hager, and Liam Lawson’s job change. (Source: Breakfast)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Island motorists have been urged to take “extreme care” as a chilly southwesterly flow swept over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[158,111,43,139,69,16715,3393],"class_list":["post-608797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-christchurch-canterbury","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-taranaki","tag-weather-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}