Roading conditions update (10am)

Road conditions are extremely bad in the Ohai Nightcaps area at the moment with snow at 6-8 inches deep. Motorists are urged to stay at home unless travel is essential.

Snow clearing is underway from the Otautau Tuatapere Road. Blackmount Hill has 8-10 inches and may not be open today, while the road is being cleared from Wairaki Bridge to Blackmount.

Mossburn Wreys Bush Road has 8-10 inches, and is just passable.

Kakapo Road has 15 inches of snow and is being cleared while the Redcliff Road / Hillside Manapouri will be checked/cleared by a Te Anau based grader.

In general there has been significant build up in most areas overnight.

While checks are being made on major Council roads, the main focus is still on highways, in particular SH6 Five Rivers to Frankton.

Poor weather in Northern Southland is continuing to disrupt rubbish and recycling collection services.

Heavy snow in Mossburn has caused the collection truck to get stuck twice, SH6 north of Five Rivers is closed and the heavy snow around Lumsden is also causing disruption. It is unlikely there will be any collections in that area today. BCL will try to collect around the Centre Bush area. The Tuatapere Community Board meeting tonight has been postponed because of snow.

For state highway conditions, please check www.nzta.govt.nz and for further general roading updates check www.aa.co.nz