Tekapo's Roundhill Ski Area received about 50cm of new snow on Tuesday.
© ROUNDHILL SKI AREATekapo's Roundhill Ski Area received about 50cm of new snow on Tuesday.
Some southern skifields received a decent dumping of snow as a cold front made its way up the South Island on Tuesday.

Canterbury skifields received the majority of the heavy snowfall over the 24 hours to Tuesday evening, according to the SnowNZ website.

The Arrowsmith, Ragged, and Palmer ranges, operated on by Methven Heliski, led the way with a mammoth 62 centimetres of new snow. Tekapo's Roundhill Ski Area received 50cm, while Mount Cook Heliski region got 40cm, Temple Basin ski area near Arthur's Pass got 20cm, Ōhau got 15cm, Porters had 10cm, Wānaka's Treble Cone got 7cm, and Broken River got 5cm.

Kevin Boekholt​, director of Alpine Guides, which operates Methven Heliski, said despite recently losing the Australian market through the suspension of the trans-Tasman travel bubble, the number of Kiwi visitors had "started to pick up". He attributed the recent large snowfalls as a contributing factor.

"Now that the snow is coming we're actually finding that all our bookings are actually filling in, and we're expecting to have a really good season.

"Kiwis are a lot more aware of the fact that now they aren't going overseas and spending other money they're going to throw a little bit more money into actually getting some good quality skiing like going helicopter skiing."

Much of the Canterbury backcountry had received several decent snow dumps on the back of storms passing through the region.

"These storms actually really benefit us, and so we've been able to offer as good a product as we can on any other year."

Roundhill Ski Area general manager Tim Douglass​ said getting such a decent snow dump would really help he rest of the ski season.

The field opened its doors on July 2 and the snow conditions had been great, with the ski area having two of its busiest days on record during the recent New Zealand school holidays.

"We've had really good snow conditions all season and I think the Mackenzie [district] has had some of the best in the country up to this point."

As long as the conditions continued the ski area would remain open until September 19, Douglass said.

Parts of Christchurch recorded between 15 millimetres and 30mm of rain between midnight and about 6.30am on Tuesday, along with winds of up to 70kmh, MetService meteorologist Alwyn Bakker said.

Sugarloaf on the Port Hills had wind gusting up to 100kmh.

Road snowfall warnings for the southern alpine passes had eased as of Tuesday evening, but a warning remained for the Desert Road (SH1) in the North Island. Snow flurries were likely about the summit late afternoon and evening until 10pm on Tuesday, but little if any snow was expected to accumulate on the road.