Demand for electricity across Auckland rose by 24 percent last night when the polar blast that's affected the country hit the region - and at 7am this morning it was still no warmer than five degrees anywhere in the country.
Yesterday's snow froze overnight, turning roads into ice rinks in the south island, and closing some north island roads.
It dropped to minus five in Christchurch, creating sheets of invisible black ice and freezing the snow solid.
While graders cleared and gritted roads, motorists struggled just to get their vehicles onto the streets.
The pumping stations and storm water pipes are coping well with the thaw, even in the quake-hit eastern suburbs.
However there is concern that as the ice continues to melt it will be unable to drain out of sinkholes in the roads, and could cause large scale surface flooding.
The snowfall created picturesque scenes in Queenstown, but it also caused water leaks from burst pipes.
The ice wasn't restricted to the south – it kept some roads closed in the north island too, including the road over Rimutaka range between Wellington and the Wairarapa.
After being snowed shut the Wairarapa gateway was re-opened 38 hours later.
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