Snow in New Zealand

Surrounded and tempered by the ocean, heavy snow in non-mountainous parts of New Zealand is a pretty big deal -- especially in northern areas. Today, however, parts of this island country saw more snow than they've seen in 50 years. Here's more from accuweather.com:

Snowfall covering far-flung areas of New Zealand as of Monday has been called "once in a lifetime" for its normally mild north.

On the North Island, the storm left a mantle of snow over the hills above Wellington, while the snowflakes sighted in Auckland marked the first time since the mid-1970s, according to a number of news outlets on line.

Snow, some heavy, also hit the South Island, including Christchurch and Dunedin.

A New Zealand MetService forecast was quoted saying that the polar blasting instigating the snowfalls was "of the order of a 50-year" event.

Hills in the Wellington area had reported snowfall of at least 11 cm in Upper Hutt.

Emergency vehicles and a snowplow were used to rescue more than 100 motorists trapped in their cars on a hill road north of Wellington, according to the U.K. Daily Mail.

The Automobile Association urged motorists not to drive unless necessary, the New Zealand Herald reported. There were also warnings to be aware of black ice, which is very unusual in most of New Zealand.

The Daily Mail indicated that major highways on both islands became impassable during the storm. Grounding of flights stranded hundreds of passengers at Christchurch, Queenstown and Dunedin, the Daily Mail reported.

A flight over from Palmerston North to Wellington was apparently struck by lightning; fortunately, it landed without incident, according to the Daily Mail.

Schools and other services were affected. Power was cut to some areas by fallen trees and power lines.

Underlying the abnormal cold and snow was an unusually strong, direct blast of Antarctic air aimed squarely upon the island nation.

Forecasters at AccuWeather.com believe that unusual cold outbreak will keep its grip over New Zealand through midweek, yielding significant additional snowfall.