Last week Christchurch and Canterbury recorded some of their coldest temperatures ever and even though this coming week doesn’t look like a record breaker, cold to very cold conditions are looking ripe once again.

Daytime highs in June for Christchurch can push up towards eleven or twelve degrees but last Wednesday saw just 0.4 degrees hit the city with some heavy snow. Overnight lows dropped below minus five degrees and Darfield, just 30kn west of Christchurch, plummeted to minus 11 degrees.

Later tomorrow another front is set to move across Canterbury and although snow isn’t looking quite so likely to be a factor, the winds look stronger than last week which is likely to make it feel very cold.

“We’re barely into Winter and once again the cold is about to bite and it’s the type of cold that is raw and can really get into your bones if you’re not prepared as the wind this week is likely to pick up at times” says weather analyst Richard Green. “Normally the coldest weather comes after the shortest day but this year Mother Nature has obviously thought she’d take a different approach”.

WeatherWatch.co.nz believes snow showers are likely down to one to two hundred metres for parts of higher coastal areas of Canterbury, Otago and Southland later tomorrow but a sou’ west wind should impact more over the deep south and keep many of the showers away from lowlying eastern areas.

Temperatures are likely to remain in single figures for much of the week and overnight lows are looking sub zero yet again.

Travellers are advised to check road conditions in regards to snow and/or ice during nigthfall or first thing in the morning for the second week running in the area.