Residents in Wanaka have woken to a fresh dusting of snow on Sunday morning, and the Cardrona ski fields are soaking it up.
It's been a slow and tired winter so far and the fresh dumping of snow has the ski field refreshed and staff filled with excitement.
"It's brilliant, it's been a snow-starved winter so far and this new snow has really freshened up the sky," Treble Cone ski area manager Ewan Mackie said. "It's one of those perfect snowfalls, it's only fallen on the ski fields.
"Snow is our business and more snow means more terrain, more variation and more space to explore.
"Now we are going to open up two-thirds of the saddle basin," Mackie said.
The new snowfall has meant the old hard snow has had a complete refresh - something for people heading up the mountain to look forward to.
"It's soft snow and it just means there's more depth, with softness on top but still firm underneath," Mackie said. "It's beautiful and, on top of that, it's starting to become a really fine day."
Elsewhere, a road snowfall warning is in place for Lewis Pass (State Highway 7) - with a period of snow above 900 metres possible on Sunday afternoon.
"Up to 1cm of snow may accumulate on the road near the summit," MetService said.
The forecaster also issued a snow warning for Milford Rd (SH94) with a forecast of snow showers expected to affect the road above 800m from mid-afternoon until Sunday night.
A strong wind watch in place earlier has now been lifted for inland parts of Otago.
However strong wind watches are in force for areas from Hawke's Bay down to Canterbury.
MetService is urging people to keep up to date with the latest forecasts in case any watches are upgraded to warnings or further areas are added.
