October 2009

The snow that closed the Desert Road and Napier-Taupo Road from Sun 4th to Tue 6th  October 2009 was unseasonable.  It was caused by a low pressure system deepening over the area at the same time as a cold southerly flow arrived, resulting in moist air being cooled from below in a cauldron of lowering pressure.  This produced an unusually heavy amount of snow over a wide area. The weather map for noon on Sunday shows the low pressure system forming over the Central North Island