It's been a wild and wintry couple of days here in Wellington! We've had snow on and off for the past few days. It all started late in the afternoon Sunday - I was sick in bed but the girls bundled up and headed out to play in it. It was a proper snow and actually stuck to the ground which was pretty fun.
Monday morning began snowy - the girls can now tell their children that when they were young they walked a mile to school in the snow - but by morning tea the sun was shining brilliantly and the snow began to melt.
As became par for the course the sun was soon chased away by more snow. I got an email that the girls could be picked up from school early so the little two and I bundled up and walked over to Marsden to collect the big two. Since it was cold and snowing we decided to pretend it was Christmas and made these yummy treats.
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| The cat did not know what to do with the snow, she wanted in, she wanted out, she wanted in, she wanted out. |
The sun came out again briefly on our walk to school so we took some pictures with my phone.
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| J & E heading in the back entrance to school. |
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| The art building at Marsden. |
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| Ellie ate snow all the way to school. |
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| We don't see this very often! Snow on the ferns. |
Once we arrived at school we had to wait quite awhile for Meggie to appear so the girls entertained themselves taking pics with my phone. I deleted most of them but a few were cute.
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| Ottilie's name is up there at the bottom of the Head Prefect Column. |
Meggie finally turned up and we went to get Katie and headed home, by which time it was again snowing. Crazy weather. When we got home it felt like old times - Meggie started reading to Ellie while Katie finished some school work she was meant to finish over the weekend (but couldn't because it was in her backpack, which was at her friend's house where she left it after school on Friday). That's so Katie. Josie entertained herself with the Legos. We had a lovely quiet afternoon together.
Dugald was in Auckland for business and by the end of the day the airport was closed so he couldn't get home. It was extremely cold and by this point we'd lost internet and our electricity kept flickering on and off. Here's a quote from today's online paper:
WELLINGTON CLOSE TO BLACK OUT
Wellington's power supply teetered close to blackout on Monday night as electricity demand hit a record high, the boss of national grid operator Transpower said.
Three of the four main transmission lines into one side of the city, which all go through "pretty extreme country" in Wellington's western hills, shut down as snow and ice stuck to the wires, Transpower chief executive Patrick Strange said yesterday.
The only remaining line was then hit by lightning, causing the power supply to flicker and threatening to black out half the city.
"It hung together, and we managed to put the network back together, but it was a reasonably serious event," Strange said, admitting his staff were nervous .
I also kept hearing a mysterious banging noise somewhere near the front of the house. This stuff always happens when he is away! I decided to have the girls sleep in the rooms with the heat pumps so Meggie and Katie had a slumber party in the playroom and the little two slept in my room. Thankfully our electricity stayed on and we were relatively warm for the evening.
The next day school was cancelled but I still felt disgusting. My friend across the street, Lisa, called and said she was taking the kids to the park to boogie board down the hills so the girls joined her. I eventually joined them with the camera but sadly by the time I arrived the snow was mostly gone from their "run". After the sledding adjourned Lisa took the girls home with her for hot chocolate and movies. I am so blessed. I took a long, warm, peaceful shower and slowly got to work on my chores.
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| Beauchamp Street |
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| Jo |
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| Jo again |
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| The board is as big as Ellie. |
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| She got stuck on the "jump". |
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| Meg |
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| Katie |
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| The windshield of our car. |
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| Snow melting and sliding off our roof. |
Today it's wet and sleeting and just cold but not as fun. Dugald has gone back to Auckland so we're hoping he'll get home but I think the weather is meant to stay the same so he should be ok. Having the snow at sea-level is incredibly unusual so we don't expect to see it again anytime soon. This from today's paper:
Snow like this a rare topping
BRONWYN TORRIE
The last time a "once-in-a-generation" storm of this severity hit Wellington was in 1976.
The capital's coldest day on record was in June that year, when the maximum temperature reached only 6.5 degrees Celsius at the airport. Monday was the second coldest, at 6.8C.
The Dominion reported on June 23, 1976, that people stayed home from work and school as the snow blanketed Brooklyn, Karori, Wadestown, Ngaio, Wilton and Kelburn.
"You can hear the quiet. There's an uneasy sort of peace. No planes. No cars. Not even dogs barking," Roberta Walton of Karori said.
The biggest snow dump before that was in July 1939, when snowflakes fell in the central city, The Evening Post reported.
Residents woke up to a "light mantle of white" over Karori and Khandallah.
Snow settled in Upper Hutt and was described by "residents of long standing" as being the "most severe they have ever experienced".
MetService forecaster and weather historian Erick Brenstrum said the three-week 1939 polar blast was the "forgotten" storm, although it was the worst to date. Kiwis had their minds on the lingering effects of the Depression and the start of World War II.
About eight hectares of Pauatahanui Inlet froze. "People saw seagulls padding on top of the ice," Mr Brenstrum said.
John Tenquist, aged three during the 1939 snowfall, said people donned skis and took to the streets in Wallaceville.
- The Dominion Post
