The recent snow on the east side of the South Island has a lot of ski areas on track (or in the case of Mt Lyford, shattering) for breaking the snow depth records for this century.
And then we have the odd one out in the North Island (on the eastern side of Mt Ruapehu)
A big three weeks in one part of the world proves nothing about GW though, that's weather not climate!
But in any case, these massive dumps were caused by very unusually intense lows off the west coast of NZ.
If the Tasman warmed, a textbook result should be intensified lows over the Tasman (more heat energy to drive the lows) and increased precipitation over NZ (because of increased evaporation while the low is over the sea). So perhaps global warming could be a contributor, and these events may become more common. Who knows, but don't assume global warming and snow are incompatible.
Trouble is, it's all good this year from a snow viewpoint, but whose to say in years to come that increased precipitation won't fall as rain?
Airfuego, most of the "bad years" I can remember are those with freezing cold, dry conditions. Stable anticyclones and hard frosts. (Bad for skiing, but great for ice climbing.) In my experience a winter rainfall, if it ever comes, is usually followed by a major snowfall. And the balance is almost always, overall, a gain for the snowpack. Given the choice, I would take the option of wetter conditions over dryer ones. If "Global Warming" brings more winter precip to the Southern Alps, bring it on!
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James B Broken River advocate.
Must have been an epic day for you and the other few there. I'm tempted to make a last minute trip next time there is a good looking forecast. When we skied there in September 2006 it was only spring slushies on the southernmost T.
Is it always that crowded on weekdays?
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Visit - http://www.ozbc.net - For Information on Australian Backcountry Skiing
SB: No T bars here, just high-speed nutcracker rope tows. Anyway, what you see is a typical week day powder day. You get about 20 of the hard core members drop everything and throw sickies and do day trips from Chch. The rest are those staying on snow up the mountain or down at the Castle Hill village, e.g. 30 more. If a powder day coincides with a weekend, it's carnage. People who have never ridden nutcracker tows before (Mt Hutt skiers) turn up, and the tow keeps stopping as they fall off- people can hurt themselves and it slows us all up. Idiots who think Subarus can go anywhere without chains try our road, and stand there like plonkers expecting to get hauled back onto the road when they slide off, etc, etc. We can get 120-150 people on a busy weekend day. That's a really hectic day.
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James B Broken River advocate.
Lyford got yet another 25cm today. Amazing how good this season is for them compared to usual. I wonder what their cumulative snowfall is so far?
Not sure if where to find the figures for cumulative snowfall, but I'm guessing it would be at least 5m given that Lyford lost a bit of snow with rain earlier in the season.
might have to save some funds and head over after next big system hits :D:D 
