In pictures: Wild weather lashes the country with snow and strong winds

A wintry blast has continued to sweep across most of the country today and RNZ reporters and readers were braving the chilly conditions to send us these pictures from various regions.

Reporter Tess Brunton out in Dunedin captured the moment a strong gust of wind swept over and destroyed someone's hard work.

Let's hope Otago's Harbour Mouth Molars artwork won't be needing any fillings after the frostbite it got today.

The hills near Waihola, south of Dunedin, were capped with snow this morning.

But farmers in the South Island today expressed concerns as they told Morning Report they expected losses to their lamb livestock, with the brutal windchill hitting in the middle of lambing season.

"It's the type of storm where very few newborns [lambs] would survive... I could hear during the night it was pretty blustery and stormy with it and it's the wind chill that kills the animals," said Otago sheep and beef farmer Nigel Woodhead.

"We're lucky we're close to the end of our lambing and not the start ... but there's plenty of farmers inland from us and at higher altitudes that don't start lambing 'til about now. It'll be horrible for them because they'll be right in the middle of it."

Over on the highways, RNZ reporter Tim Brown saw this tree after strong gusts brought it smack down in the middle of SH1 north of Dunedin.

Earlier in the morning, the highway was buffeted by heavy snow flurries.

State Highway 87 looked pretty much the same.

Brown reported that despite the white-out conditions on SH87, there was oddly some beautiful sunshine five minutes' drive away in Outram.

Dunedin residents were sending in shots of the snow blanketing their properties.

Clutha District Council was warning motorists of the conditions out on the roads today.

Another reader sent us images yesterday of the snow covering the road near Lake Tekapo and its landmark, the Church of the Good Shepherd.

Over in Nelson, RNZ reporter Tracy Neal also snapped this photo of the snow on the hills above the city this morning.

And it definitely was a picture of winter wonderland over in Wanaka with another image sent in from a reader yesterday.

Earlier today before 8am, Auckland's Harbour Bridge was forced to close for about an hour due strong winds that reached about 90km/h.

Meanwhile, social media users out in rural areas of the country and farmers were posting snaps of the conditions in their regions.

Managed to get my drone up in between snow fronts, but only just got it back due to wind.
Brutally cold. pic.twitter.com/y3OVZJjxm9

— Blocka (@blairdrysdale77) September 28, 2020

Well done girl. Set of triplets all up and fed. Woolly coats on now. pic.twitter.com/VXs5GgvURA

— Ross Paterson (@waikakagenetics) September 28, 2020

Spring snow hits Dunedin. No one is working, we are all looking out of the window! pic.twitter.com/R4kLxySm9M

— david j woods (@pharminfotech) September 28, 2020

Not good, not good at all dam it. pic.twitter.com/MfXpdB12KU

— Blocka (@blairdrysdale77) September 28, 2020

Power cut and a good snow dump last night ! pic.twitter.com/un9IdkeHho

— DairyCowQueen (@DairyCowQueen) September 28, 2020

BBBRRRR in Dipton @WeatherWatchNZ pic.twitter.com/ov7vjJYO3m

— Heather Milligan (@MilliganHeather) September 28, 2020

Day 2 - if anyone says it looks beautiful obviously has never ever worked in snow and freezing weather! Way worse than yesterday.@WeatherWatchNZ#calving2020 #Ihatesnow pic.twitter.com/VEBLUoqYXR

— Katrina Thomas (@katrinathomas67) September 28, 2020

8 minutes of progression #snowmageddon2020 pic.twitter.com/6FHFBJ4rQJ

— Ian Simpson (@IanTLS) September 28, 2020

And then there were some images from a little further afar showing the impact.

Awesome image of the wind blowing off Antarctica captured in Christchurch from the Russian MeteorM2 Weather Satellite as it flew over the area this morning@WeatherWatchNZ pic.twitter.com/4qWreDCq04

— Robert Read (@amacantab) September 28, 2020