A white Christmas could become a reality in New Zealand this year, or at least for Mount Ruapehu it could.

The mountain has seen a heavy showering of snow, despite the warmer summer conditions felt across many other parts of the country.

MetService meteorologist Agnes Hines says the snowfall has reached as low as the Turoa ski field on Mount Ruapehu.

'There's been snow down to about 1600m, near Turoa ski field, as a heavy snow shower crossed over earlier this morning.

'Some of that has melted however, being December with warmer conditions so we're not expecting it to be a significant enough accumulation for it to ski in, but there has certainly been snow there this morning.”

He says while the snowfall is unusual it is not unprecedented.

'We have a pretty active situation over the North Island which does mean there's some heavy showers and cold air up in the atmosphere, so this is not something we've never seen before.

'Some of the images we've been looking at this morning has shown it already melting away in the lower levels, up in the higher peaks it could stay for a little longer.”

Mount Ruapehu marketting executive says while it looks amazing it's not quite worthy of breaking out the snow gears.

"It sure is cold up here, while it looks amazing there isn't enough snow to ski on at the base area. There's still plenty of snow up the mountain though."