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17.59: The weather has closed a number of roads in Auckland including the southbound Grafton Road onramp, the westbound Wellesley Street onramp, both south and northbound Dominion road offramps to Mount Roskill and the southbound Ellerslie onramp.
Around 900 households are still without power across the North Island.
High winds
overnight caused more damage to the network and most people currently without power are in the Wairarapa and Taranaki regions.
There are also isolated customers affected across the North Island in ones and twos because of minor faults and blown fuses.
Power should be restored today unless there is further weather related damage.
In Whanganui, a wave warning has been issued by MetService which has forecast waves of up to four metres, on the west coast of the North Island from Waitotara to Otaki overnight and on Friday.
That concludes today's latest updates coverage of the storm. Thanks for joining us.
17.52: Another fast moving front is expected to bring squally weather to a battered North Island overnight while more heavy snow is forecast for parts of Southland already battling the heaviest snowfall in years.
Severe westerly gales, powerful enough to uproot trees, are expected in the Coromandel, according to WeatherWatch.
Auckland has seen a morning of heavy showers, hail and isolated thunderstorms and the conditions are forecast to continue.
17.01: Alpine roads are expected to get a decent dumping of snow tonight and tomorrow morning, according to MetService.
The Lewis Pass is expected to receive significant snow this evening through to early tomorrow morning, with 10-15cm possible on higher parts of the road between 6pm and 4am.
Higher parts of Arthurs Pass should get further significant snow this evening, with 20-30cm possible between about 5pm and midnight.
Further snow is expected this evening on Lindis Pass, with 2-4cm likely between 6pm and midnight. A few light snow showers are possible about higher parts of the Porters Pass this evening, but few significant accumulations are expected.
Steady snow is expected to ease to snow showers on Milford this evening, although these are expected to continue through all of tomorrow. About 30cm of snow is likely before midnight, with the heaviest falls this afternoon and early evening.
Further snow showers are expected about higher parts of the Desert Road from the early hours of tomorrow morning, with 3-6cm could possibly accumulate near the summit between 3am and midday tomorrow.
No further snow showers are expected on Rimutaka Hill Road.
16.17: The Milford Road (SH94 from the Lower Hollyford Turnoff To Milford Sound) is now closed to traffic.
SH43 from Stratford to Taumaranui also remains closed due to a slip. SH 74 Christchurch (Heathcote Valley offramp), SH 43 (Stratford to Taumarunui), SH 21 Hamilton and the SH 77 Glentunnel to Glenroy are also closed due to the weather.
15.23: Strong winds in Auckland have blown the roof off a Lion Nathan Breweries.
The Fire Service was called to the building in Newmarket just before 11am.
A spokesman says loose iron blew from the roof and onto the train track just as a train was coming.
He says the train drove over the iron and had to make an emergency stop.
The track has now been cleared.
15.05: The Stratford District Council says Pembroke Road, which leads up to Mt Taranaki, is closed due to heavy snow.
Stratford township is home to over 5000 people.
14.26: The Milford Road (SH94 from Te Anau to Milford Sound) will close for the night at 3pm. Until then, restrictions are in place, with chains essential and towing prohibited.
The NZTA is advising caution for those driving high-sided vehicles on SH87 from Outram to Middlemarch due to high winds and those driving on SH93 from Clinton to Mataura due to snow.
SH43 from Stratford to Taumaranui is still closed due to a slip, and NZTA is advising caution following slips on SH3 through the Manawatu Gorge, SH4 from Whanganui to Raetihi, SH3 at Ratana, SH1 at Utiku south of Taihape, and SH54 Cheltenham to Hunterville Rd (reduced to one lane).
14.05: Firefighters in Auckland have been busy as people struggle to cope with the damage caused by the high winds.
Northern Communications said crews had attended 60 weather-related callouts since 6am, most of which have been in the last few hours.
A spokesperson said crew were called when part of the roof of Lions Breweries in Newmarket blew off onto the railway this morning, delaying trains.
A three-storey house in Hillsborough undergoing renovations was damaged, as was the neighbouring home, when the scaffolding around it blew off.
The spokesperson said crew have also been called out to the industrial area near Auckland Airport with several buildings suffering roof damage.
However, fire crews in the rest of the country have been quiet.
Central and Southern communications said crew had not been to any weather-related callouts.
"People are more resilient down here," the Southern Communication spokesperson said. "Not like Aucklanders. When a deck chair blows over we don't call the fire brigade."
13.44: Rather than one storm system, the past week's wild weather is the product of several fast-moving fronts in a westerly flow, MetService forecaster Andy Downs said.
"And unfortunately there is more to come."
The next front will lash the country late this evening through to early tomorrow morning.
"The relentless nature of the fronts is something more unusual for spring," Mr Downs said.
Tonight's front is expected to bring more snow for Southland. The snow fall combined with strong winds is likely to produce blizzards, Mr Downs said.
"The winds are strongest around the coast of Southland, so people there should take care."
Strong winds are also expected tonight along Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa and Wellington.
Tomorrow Mr Downs said the focus would be on the North Island from the Coromandel Peninsula and Bay of Plenty south, and on Malborough and North Canterbury.
More rainfall is expected for the central North Island, although Mr Downs said this would be less than severe.
"Given the fact [the land] is so saturated, there is an increased risk of slips."
There will be little respite for the rest of the week, but this weekend Mr Downs said the winds will likely be northwesterlies, which will mean Southland and Otago will be somewhat sheltered from the brunt of the weather.
"For the next few days expect more of the same."
13.21: Gale force winds are currently being recorded at Auckland Airport, the Manukau Heads and across Auckland Harbour with gusts around 100 to 115km/h over the city, according to WeatherWatch.co.nz.
Gusts within the CBD may be even higher due to the wind tunnel effect caused by high rise buildings.
WeatherWatch.co.nz says it's possible more trees may be damaged in the winds which could lead to more power cuts.
Weather analyst Philip Duncan said showers were starting to ease - for now. "We're seeing showers clearing and with it so are the squally conditions. It's these squalls that have caused most of the damage across Auckland lately, as they can often be violent and come out of nowhere".
13.15: A small part of the roof at Auckland International Airport's domestic terminal has lifted off.
Spokesman Richard Llewellyn said some tiles by the Qantas lounge had come off due to high winds.
All their maintenance crew were on site to "batten down the hatches" but there had been no damage and no impact on operations.
13.02: South Island farmers have said as many as a million lambs forecast to be born in Otago and Southland could die in the bitter cold.
Southland farmer Andrew Morrison told The Southland Times the storm was a one in 40 or 50-year event.
More snow has been forecast to fall to near sea level in Southland tonight and tomorrow and farmers have been told to expect wind chills as low as -5degC on lower level farms and -10degC on some high country farms, WeatherWatch.co.nz said.
Conditions in Southland would start to improve over the weekend.
12.56: Severe winds caused more power cuts in parts of the North Island today as lines companies worked to restore power following days of stormy weather.
Powerco Network operations manager Phil Marsh said around 2000 customers were still without power, with the latest losses affecting Taranaki and Manawatu and Western Bay of Plenty.
High winds overnight caused more damage, and with more bad weather forecast there was a lot of work to do to reconnect all customers, Mr Marsh said.
Most of those still without power were in the Western Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Manawatu and Wairarapa, he said.
"Since Friday we have had more than 79,000 customers lose supply."
An overnight storm caused a tornado near Kaitake, 17km southwest of New Plymouth, and downed power lines and trees, a police spokeswoman said.
