High winds hit, with heavy rain, snow to follow

Stormy weather has hit the Deep South, with Metservice warning of high gusts, snow and heavy rain for many parts of the country over the next few days.

Swells as high as 7-8m were affecting Southland and Otago, Metservice said.

The Treble Cone skifield, near Wānaka, was closed yesterday. It reported ‘‘substantial’’ gusts, at the top of the six, had made operation of the chair unsafe.

Cardrona was also closed and was reporting galeforce winds.

By 1pm yesterday gusts had eased a little to about 100kph in Invercargill, Metservice said. At the same time, to the northeast, at Nugget Point in south Otago, gust strength had risen to its likely peak of about 120kph.

Snow, heavy rain ahead

There was also a chance of heavy snow in some central parts of the North Island overnight today, while heavy rain was expected in the north today and tomorrow.

The rain and strong winds in northern areas would come from a low moving in from the north Tasman Sea. It was expected to move on to the Far North today and be out to the east of the country overnight tomorrow, Metservice said.

In central and southern areas, a cold and showery southwest flow was expected to bring the low snow in the south, and snow as low as 600m in the lower half of the North Island. The Desert Road and Napier-taupō Rd could be affected by snow.

Yesterday morning MetService issued a heavy rain warning covering the period from 9am to 5pm today for the parts of Northland north and east of a line from Kaitaia to Mangawhai.

Auckland north of the harbour bridge, along with Coromandel Peninsula, was under a heavy rain watch from noon to 9pm today.

Metservice also issued a heavy snow watch for Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay and Taupō, from Matawai to the Kaimanawa and Kaweka Forest Parks overnight today.

Heavy rain is expected to develop in Auckland this morning and continue into tomorrow. Daytime highs are not expected to top 14C in the city from today to Wednesday, while overnight lows could drop to 6C.

Wellington is expected to have a mostly dry week, with a few showers. But southerlies and southeasterlies will chill the capital, with the temperature not expected to top 8C tomorrow, dropping to 3C early Wednesday.

Southerlies are expected to bring a chilly but mostly dry week in Christchurch.