2011 New Zealand snowstorms

The storms caused chaos around the country, leaving people stranded at airports, blocking state highways, and resulting in entire regions, particularly Canterbury and Otago, being completely closed.

[5] The lowest temperature set during the month was −10.2 °C (13.6 °F) at Manapouri (in the southwest corner of the South Island) on 26 July, which was a new record for the town.

The Christchurch and Dunedin Donor Centres were closed and Westport and Mosgiel mobile collections were cancelled as a result of bad weather.

The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) closed access to Christchurch's earthquake-damaged red zone due to potential safety hazards.

The snow caused power outages in rural areas of Canterbury, namely Rakaia, Westmelton, Leeston and Greendale due to fallen tree branches.

On 15 August, national electricity demand peaked at 6,902 megawatts, breaking the previous record of 6,635 MW set on 24 June 2007.

The storm was reportedly the worst since 1939 when snow fell on the top of Maungawhau / Mount Eden and the outer suburbs of Auckland, a city which does not generally receive any snowfall.

[13] Many ski resorts were completely closed due to being covered in dangerous amounts of snow and suffering damage to infrastructure.