TL;DR
After a settled week, New Zealand's ski season is about to get a proper shake-up. A storm rolling in from Friday will bring rain and gale-force winds before a cold southerly change drops fresh snow across the South Island. The Southern Lakes should pick up 10-15cm by Sunday, while Canterbury is in line for the goods - Mt Hutt and the Craigieburns are forecast solid totals, with the north set to cop the heaviest falls of the lot. Ruapehu largely misses out, but Opening Day should be a cracker.
A week of sunshine is about to give way to New Zealand's first real storm cycle of the season, with Canterbury shaping up as the big winner.
A weather system approaching from the west will bring deteriorating conditions to the South Island from Friday, building into a stormy Saturday before a cold southerly change ushers in the goods from Sunday. The Southern Lakes are forecast to pick up 10 to 15 centimetres or more of fresh snow by Sunday morning, while Canterbury's ski fields are set for a more substantial hit as the cold air pushes north through the following days. Mt Ruapehu sits largely north of the action and should see only light falls on the upper slopes, but that's shaping up as good news for a fine Opening Day at Whakapapa and Turoa.
How the storm plays out
Friday brings strengthening northwesterlies and increasing rain to the Southern Lakes, spreading to other South Island fields by evening, while Mt Ruapehu enjoys a clear, calm day for Opening Day. Saturday turns wild across the South Island, with severe gale-force winds and heavy rain before colder air begins lowering snow levels later in the day. The change arrives properly overnight into Sunday, when cold southerlies push into the Southern Lakes and bring snow to low levels through the morning. Canterbury's snowfall builds through Sunday and becomes heavy overnight, continuing through Monday and Tuesday as the heaviest totals settle across the region, before the system eases through Tuesday and clears to sunny skies by the afternoon.
