Although it’s Spring, it was a little over 3 years ago that an unexpected snowfall hit parts of the Canterbury region, catching many Cantabrains and forecasters on the hop.Although little has fallen over the region in the last 3-4 months, it was a very different story 3 winters ago.

The snowstorm that struck the South Island on June 11-12 brought between 75cm and 90cm of snow to the townships of Fairlie and Burkes Pass in the Mackenzie district. Ashburton received 38cm and Timaru 24cm.

The last similar-sized storm was on August 5-6, 1973, when 90cm of snow fell at Methven, in Mid-Canterbury, when 100,000 sheep were killed and the power supply and communications were badly disrupted, as in the storm in 2006.

In November 1967, between 60cm and 90cm fell in the South Island’s Mackenzie district. Up to 70,000 sheep were killed, there were widespread power outages and crop losses, and some called it the worst snowfall in living memory.