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Bejon Haswell / Stuff
A snow-covered rural fire truck draws water from a canal near Twizel.
Firefighters fighting a major blaze near Aoraki / Mt Cook National Park have been helped by overnight snow and rain that has fallen to low levels in south Canterbury.
Mackenzie District Council emergency operations center public information manager Chris Clarke said “urgency and danger” were now out of the picture because the wind “had completely gone” and the rain and snow had hit the area.
“There was some snow falling on the fire ground and a decent amount of rain. This is all good news from our perspective,” Clarke said.
“Firefighters will dampen hot spots, so today is a more routine day.”
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Clarke said the helicopters remained on the ground due to weather conditions, so an assessment of the fire area would be made from the ground.
Pukaki airport resident Chris Rudge said the rain had started at 10 p.m. Monday and only subsided before 8 a.m. Tuesday.
“This is the best thing that could happen,” Rudge said.
“It’s a grade with a cloud base of about 800 feet.”
Bejon Haswell / Things / Things
The fire burns Monday night before the rain begins.
Rudge said he witnessed numerous “outbreaks” that started around 8 pm, particularly in the northern sector of the fire area, before the rain calmed it down.
“It is completely strange to go from one extreme to the other.”
NZTA / Stuff
A screenshot from a New Zealand Transportation Agency webcam showing snowfall overnight on State Highway 80 towards Aoraki / Mt Cook Village.
Webcams from the New Zealand Transportation Agency show snow has fallen and settled on State Highway 80, which has been closed since the fire started and spread to both sides of the road on Sunday.
At the height of the fire, up to 17 helicopters with monsoon buckets were fighting the fire along with almost 100 ground personnel.
Bejon Haswell / Stuff
A New Zealand Fire and Emergency vehicle travels down State Highway 8 near Twizel.
MetService forecaster Peter Little said a heavy snow warning for the Canterbury foothills, south of Rakaia, would remain in place until 7pm Monday.
“We expect up to 20 centimeters of snow at 500 meters above sea level, while there could be a temperate climate closer to sea level along the coast,” Little said.
“The snow should subside tonight, but it is certainly different to have this kind of weather pattern in early spring.”
