It’s time to start the snow dances.
While Queenstown’s The Remarkables managed to get its Curvey Basin chairlift spinning on Wednesday morning, thanks to a behemoth effort from its snow groomers who were able to manipulate the snow pack to create a base of about 30cm on the trail, the forecast isn’t showing much sign of a delivery of much-needed white gold at the moment.
MetService meteorologist Andrew James says while there might be ‘‘a bit of useful snow’’ mid-to-late next week, it’s looking likely skifields are going to have to continue to rely on their snowmaking systems for the next wee while.
James says last winter’s well-timed dumps were thanks to the La Nina system, which was also the driver for the North Island’s northeast’s flooding earlier this year.
Now, though, Aotearoa’s moving to an El Nino set-up, meaning there’ll be ‘‘a lot more westerly stuff through the rest of the winter’’.
‘‘What that means is it’s going to be a more slow and steady affair in terms of building up that snow base over the next wee while,’’ James
says.
‘‘We’re hitting the shortest day [yesterday], so we are in the cold time of year … which is good conditions for snowmaking.
‘‘It’ll just be a case of waiting and seeing … I know any night they can they’ll be getting that machinery up and running.’’
The Remarks Ski area manager Ross Lawrence reckons about 900 punters turned up on Wednesday, with local Natalie Urbani adding to her ‘First on the Chair’ t-shirt collection.
But he says opening any more runs depends on when, and how much, snow the crews can make.
At this stage, the first sign of any forecast natural snow’s next Friday, he says, ‘‘but it’s still [seven] days away, so I’m not going to count
my chickens”.
Meantime, for those who think the temperatures in Queenstown are colder than normal for this time of year, they’re correct.
James says the mean temperature is 3.7degC for Queenstown so far this month, compared to an average of 4.6degC.
