Volcanic Ash from Chile Grounds Flights in New Zealand and Tasmania

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13740877

Qantas has cancelled all its flights in and out of Melbourne, Australia, because of ash drifting over the Pacific Ocean from a volcano in Chile.

Qantas had already cancelled flights to and from Tasmania and parts of New Zealand. Other airlines have also grounded flights in the region, stranding thousands of travellers.
Australian airline Qantas said it was too dangerous to fly through the ash.
The Puyehue-Cordon-Caulle volcano has been erupting for more than a week.
Strong winds have carried the fine particles of ash from the volcano to southern New Zealand and Australia at between 6,000 and 10,600m (20,000 and 35,000ft). end quote.

It is my present belief that all the volcanoes going off in Iceland and South America and other places are a factor in the snow pack being so high still in the Western United States. One week ago I was skiing on 12 feet of snow at 7000 feet and there was 20 feet still at 10,000 feet and one lake I visited was still frozen over at 6000 feet. This type of thing I have only seen about once every 20 years or less so I think Volcanic ash is dropping temperatures in the Western Mountainous states for this reason this year. But likely there are other factors causing this as well.