Golfers, including New Zealand's Lydia Ko, got hammered by wet weather yesterday during the NZ Women's Open in Auckland. The weather remained rough in the City of Sails overnight. Photo / Photosport
Golfers, including New Zealand's Lydia Ko, got hammered by wet weather yesterday during the NZ Women's Open in Auckland. The weather remained rough in the City of Sails overnight. Photo / Photosport
Auckland and Waikato bore the brunt of the storm which lashed the country overnight, with wind gusts peaking at 125km/h in exposed places and up to 20mm of rain falling.
MetService duty forecaster Stephen Glassey said the Auckland region was pretty windy with Manukau Heads getting 125km/h gusts, while gusts up to 90km/h were recorded at Auckland International Airport.
Invercargill was this morning at the tail-end of things, with the strong westerly flow throwing down winds of more than 90km/h, he said.
Neither fire nor police had any weather-related call-outs overnight, both reporting a quiet night across the country.
However, the wind did cause a few power outages across the city. While most have been fixed, several were still on track to be fixed this afternoon. A Vector spokesman said several hundred houses were stil without power in Silverdale, but the line should be restored by 5pm.
Glassey said parents at home or about to head off on holiday with their children as school holidays begin can expect a more settled week of weather, however bursts of showers were expected before a possibly fine weekend.
Glassey said although there were no reports of damage, the weather certainly made itself known overnight.
"It did pretty much go as we expected. The low-pressure system did pass just to the south of Auckland during the overnight period and we did get strong winds in Auckland and big gusts. We did have gusts around the 120km/h mark, which was what we had on the warning."
Up to 20mm of rain fell in areas from South Waikato north through to Auckland overnight, with Albany receiving the most with 17.5mm in the 12 hours to 5am.
It's the second slip in just over a month to completely block Scenic Drive. Photo / Google
Meanwhile, a slip on Scenic Dr in west Auckland is keeping the road off-limits to traffic, as crews continue work to clear it.
The slip happened last night, just south of the intersection with West Coast Rd, during wild weather that battered the region.
"It's a bit of a mess actually," explained Auckland Transport spokesman Mark Hannan.
"The road is going to remain closed for a few days, while we try to get a lane open.
"There is a substantial amount of loose material sitting on the slope that may come down," Hannan said.
Auckland Council is continuing to monitor the road while contractors work to clean up the mess with a mulcher and excavator on site.
The low pressure was now pulling away to the east of the country and was leaving behind a strong west to southwest flow over the whole country.
As for today, Auckland and Hamilton can expect similar weather. Fine spells with strong westerly winds which will ease by evening.
Tauranga will be mainly fine with just a few showers this afternoon, however the Western Bay of Plenty will be on the receiving end of some quite strong winds.
Despite having a reputation for being windy, Wellington was relatively calm overnight, Glassey said.
It will remain the same today, with "relatively light winds by Wellington's standards", and a high of 18C.
Christchurch will also be fine and not particularly windy, with the southwesterly dying out.
Dunedin will get a few showers before fine spells increase, while it will be windy in Invercargill with a few intermittent showers.
As for the rest of the week, Glassey said it looks promising.
"It's actually looking not too bad. It's an improving trend on Tuesday as well, with the westerly flow continuing ease. There will still be the odd isolated shower coming in from the west but most places will see some fine weather."
A weak front moves over the country on Wednesday and Thursday, which will bring showers, but there's another high coming in after that, bringing a possibly fine end to the week.
"I think compared to the changeable weather we've had it is looking a bit more settled this week for most places."
