Blanketing of snow causes transport disruption in parts of South Island

Snow has blanketed the deep south, falling down to sea level in Dunedin and Invercargill and forcing the closure of Queenstown Airport.

The heavy snow disrupted flights into the resort town on the first Monday of the school holidays, with Queenstown having three to four centimetres of snow this morning, a MetService spokesperson told 1 NEWS.

State Highway 94 to Te Anau has reopened, with the cars who were trapped having been freed.

The wind chill felt like -20 in some places with freezing temperatures and strong winds, a NIWA forecaster told RNZ.

Send your pictures or video of today's snow to news@tvnz.co.nz

Queenstown airport wrote on Twitter that: "Runway clearing is currently in progress and flights have been cancelled until further notice. The snow is expected all day and is continuing to fall heavily."

There was snowfall down to sea level in Dunedin, Invercargill and Stewart Island today while on the West Coast, snow fell to 200m, the Metservice spokesperson said.

NZTA have asked motorists to stay off snowy roads around the country unless they are prepared for the conditions.

Restrictions are in place as follows for roads in the South Island.

There was also a strong wind warning for the Auckland Harbour Bridge while a similar warning for SH2 Remutaka Hill, north of Wellington, has been lifted.