MetService said an active front will bring heavy rain, gales — and, potentially, more heavy snow — across central and southern New Zealand in the coming days.
Nine flights in and out of Wellington Airport have been cancelled and several others delayed due to the weather.
A spokesperson said many of the disruptions have been caused by bad weather outside of the capital, including Nelson.
Interislander cancelled all ferry sailings from Tuesday night until Thursday as heavy 4m-6m swells were expected in Cook Strait.
Sailings of the Kaitaki — the sole ferry in service —have been cancelled from 8.30pm on Tuesday.
“We are not anticipating Kaitaki returning to service before the 8.45am sailing on Thursday, July 4, unless there is a significant improvement in the weather,” a spokesperson said.
Affected passengers were being contacted directly.
Executive general manager Duncan Roy told 1News work was being done to move passengers onto weekend sailings and Interislander was working with freight customers to prioritise freight movements.
“We do have adequate ferry capacity on Sunday and Monday, which will help clear any potential backlog and meet school holiday demand.”
He also said “good progress” was being made with work on the Aratere so it could return to service after it grounded near Picton last weekend.
Assessments of the hull, steering system and bridge systems had been completed over the weekend, which Roy said were a “crucial step” towards Aratere being able to leave Picton and return to service.
“We are providing the assessments to Maritime NZ, which needs to be satisfied the ship is safe to sail before lifting the detention order.”
Meanwhile, private operator Bluebridge has also issued a weather alert for a “possible sailing disruption” this week.
“We are monitoring the forecast closely and will update this alert, and advise customers directly via text and email, if sailings are impacted during this time,” a spokesperson said.
MetService said a south-to-southwest flow would affect the country on Wednesday and Thursday.
Meanwhile, the weather has produced heavy snowfall across Central Otago and the MacKenzie Basin, which MetService said could fall as low as 800m.
Around 50cm of snowfall at Cardrona has turned the resort into a “winter wonderland”, staff said.
Cardrona and Treble Cone general manager Laura Hedly said the snowfall was a “game-changer” for the mountains.
“Both Cardrona and Treble Cone will be looking to open more terrain off the back of this week’s storm, and we’re hyped to have a solid base to build the rest of the season from.”
Several road snowfall warnings are in place across the country from Monday night into Tuesday.
Up to 3cm of snow was expected on Milford Rd (SH94), the Crown Range Rd and Lindis Pass (SH8), while up to 1cm of snow could fall on Porters Pass (SH73), Arthur’s Pass (SH73) and Lewis Pass (SH7).
A warning was also in place for Desert Rd (SH1) in the central North Island, with 1cm of snow possible about the summit of the road.