TARADALE BRACES FOR SNOW THAT HAS NEVER FALLEN THERE
MetService said the word once. The New World is now out of bread.
It was a Tuesday morning in St Martins. Nothing about the weather suggested anything, which is precisely why our subject — a MetService forecaster in an office somewhere — chose that moment to say the word "snow" in the same sentence as "Taradale". The consequences are still unfolding.
Taradale, for those who need reminding, sits in Hawke's Bay. It has received measurable snow approximately never. This has not stopped residents stripping the New World bare of long-life milk, tinned spaghetti and, for reasons no-one can explain, firelighters.
Gerald, my late husband, used to say a man who buys firelighters in a panic has never lit a fire in his life. I thought of him this morning. A woman in Taradale was filmed loading a chest freezer into a Hilux. "Just in case," she said. In case of what, love. In case of weather.
A MetService spokesperson said the forecast showed "a small chance of a dusting above 600 metres". Taradale sits at roughly 20 metres. Pressed further, the spokesperson conceded the snow would probably fall as rain, if at all, and "nowhere near the town, honestly".
My son's new girlfriend, who is from Napier and therefore has opinions, rang to ask if we had spare blankets. We do not. We have blankets for people who live in a proper winter, not for people who see a cloud and lose the plot.
The first flake has not fallen. The bread aisle remains empty. Somewhere in a MetService office, a wee shit is watching it all unfold.
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Reader Letters
tired_in_chch
It's not snowing, people!
laughing_alpaca
@tired_in_chch LOL, exactly. Someone somewhere said snow and we all lose our minds!
Garry (Halswell)
I vividly remember the winter of 1971 when we dug the car out of a snowdrift with our bare hands. The snow reached all the way up to the eaves of the house. We didn't have long-life milk back then, just some powdered stuff that tasted like cardboard. We were made of sterner stuff, not like this lot panicking in Taradale. They really need to toughen up.
historical_buff
Mate, that's not what happened in 1971. It barely snowed in July that year!
Kiwi_Kyle
Mate, do you even know where Taradale is? It's not going to snow there, that's for sure. Long-life milk? Seriously?
Kaye_Wellington
Madness! You'd think they were expecting Antarctica to relocate to Hawke's Bay. Bloody hell.
Optimistic_Oliver
You know what, maybe it's better they panic. Keeps people on their toes!
SheepishSam
Typical media hype. Wouldn't trust them to predict a sheep's next meal.