Snow on the Benmore Range, seen from Omarama in the Mackenzie Country on Wednesday morning.

On Wednesday morning, November 8, much of the lower South Island woke to a thick coating of snow.

Further north, severe winds and heavy rain buffeted the rest of the nation. They caused widespread power outages, beached a catamaran, flung a trampoline into power lines and whipped the capital with 154kmh gusts. The inclement weather is a dramatic change from the heatwave that kicked off the month.

The storm hit one day after the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) released a report saying 2017 is set to break records for its extreme weather.

BRADEN FASTIER/STUFF Campers wake to damage from the storm surge and big waves at Kina Beach Reserve in Tasman Bay near Nelson.

It's also set to be one of the top three hottest years on record after 2016 and 2015.

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The WMO 's provisional Statement on the State of the Climate - which covers January to September - says the average global temperature from January to September 2017 was approximately 1.1C above the pre-industrial era.

Southland Times Snow hit parts of Southland on Wednesday

While Wednesday's weather may not be as dramatic as other events this year - in fact, it's typical of spring storms - or directly climate change related, it's well documented that climate change will lead to more freak weather.

Victoria University's Professor James Renwick said the main way we experience climate change is through extreme events.

"Here in New Zealand, we have seen several major flood events, including Edgecumbe in April and the eastern South Island from Dunedin to Christchurch in July.

BARRY HARCOURT Takaro Road near Te Anau in Southland on Wednesday morning after overnight snow.

"While the analysis has yet to be done, it is very likely that these events have a climate change 'fingerprint', as a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, making heavy rain events more frequent.

"Sea levels continue to rise, and the latest science shows that we may see considerably more than one metre this century, with many more metres to come, unless we cap greenhouse gas emissions urgently."

The University of Otago's Dr Jim Salinger also pointed to specific events.

SUPPLIED The road at the Glen, north of Nelson, was covered in debris following the storm overnight.

"Huge storms in July brought Oamaru's wettest day on record (174 mm), the second wettest day to Winchmore (151 mm) and Dunedin's wettest July day on record (94 mm).

"Dunedin City has now had two extreme events because of climate change within the last two years where flooding has occurred in South Dunedin."

He continued: "the 'long white cloud' cloaking the Southern Alps continues to shrink.

"The latest ice volume calculations using NIWA's end of summer snowline surveys, published in June, show a further decline by March 2016 to a mere 32 cubic kilometres, 60 per cent lower than in 1977, and probably a meagre 20 per cent of those estimated in the 1890s."

The WMO report also said long-term signs of climate change, such as growing carbon dioxide concentrations, sea level rise and ocean acidification, continued unabated. Arctic sea ice coverage is still below average and the previously stable Antarctic sea ice extent was at or near a record low.

The WMO statement was released on the opening day of the United Nations climate change conference in Bonn.