Wild winds bring a wicked weekend for all

The strong winds on Saturday brought down trees, left 1750 houses without power, blew away a shed and resulted in reports of a mini-tornado.

A "pretty rare" 170km/h wind was recorded in Northland as the region was hit twice within 12 hours with bouts of bad weather.

The strong winds on Saturday brought down trees, left 1750 houses without power, blew away a shed and resulted in reports of a mini-tornado.

While one front came through between 8-10am on Saturday before heading south, a low-pressure system caused havoc for a couple of hours from early evening. Serious damage from the fronts was reported in Auckland, Bay of Plenty and Coromandel with an icy southern blast hitting the South Island.

MetService forecaster Andy Downs said the 170km/h wind recorded in the Bay of Islands was seen at that station only once every couple of years, making it "pretty rare".

"It was the strongest throughout the whole country on Saturday," Mr Downs said.

While intense bursts of rain were felt in pockets of Northland, wind was the biggest issue, he said. There were multiple reports of a mini-tornado in Wellsford on Saturday morning, though it had not been confirmed. About 6pm on Saturday, as the second bout of bad weather rolled in, wind reached 150km/h in Kaeo and 120km/h in the Karikari Peninsula.

Top Energy network planning manager Ross Bridson said about 1500 houses were without power during the peak of the storm on Saturday night. Power was returned to most houses by 11am yesterday, though some very small pockets were expected to remain without power until the evening.

Northpower spokesman Steve MacMillan said about 250 houses near Kaihu, about 30km north of Dargaville, were without power for four hours after a line went down about 5.20pm on Saturday.

Fire Communications shift manager Scott Osmond said the Fire Service responded to three reports of trees partially blocking roads in Northland on Saturday. In each instance the Fire Service used chainsaws to clear the roads, Mr Osmond said.

Ahipara Volunteer Fire Brigade responded to reports of a shed blown away by strong winds, though were unable to be of much service. "They basically said the shed's gone, there's nothing left of it," Mr Osmond said.

Mr Downs said the weather was improving with showers expected today but clearing tomorrow though it may be a little cold overnight with a low of 6C. Wednesday and Thursday were expected to be fine.