Wellington zephyrometer resurrected after lightning strike

Fibreglass in the zephyrometer exploded in the lightning strike. A council worker cleans up debris from Wellington's wind needle sculpture. Photo (right) / Mark Mitchell

Wellington's famous zephyrometer wind sculpture has been resurrected at its home near Wellington Airport almost a year after it was destroyed by a bolt of lightning.

The orange needle, or zephyrometer, was intended to mark out the strength and direction of the wind.

But Wellington's wild weather proved too much for the sculpture when it exploded after being struck by lightning as a storm battered the capital on August 14 last year.

The lightning appeared to have struck the top of the needle and blown out through the middle, a New Zealand Herald photographer at the scene said at the time.

"There were bits and pieces spread 100m or more across the carpark."

Last year, the Wellington City Council said the needle would need to be replaced because the fibreglass in it exploded.

What remained of the sculpture was sent to Christchurch in October.

Today, Wellington City Council spokesman Richard MacLean said a small army had got to work installing the repaired sculpture just after 8am today.

"They had two cranes, they had a really big crane and another smaller crane that was actually keeping it stable."

He said they managed to get the wind needle in place before 10am, and also managed to beat the Wellington weather as strong winds began to pick up soon afterwards.

"Everyone's really happy with the way it has gone.

"It's basically in place now and it's back swinging in the wind as it used to, but we are still going to keep the scaffold and stuff around the bottom of it for a couple of weeks just in case they have to do a little fine tuning.

"They just want to see on a very calm day, as to whether it ends up standing almost directly upright as it's designed to do."

The price of replacing the wind needle was likely to be a "six figure" sum, but would be covered by insurance, Mr MacLean said.

"It is a much-admired landmark, and a lot of people have been asking when it was going to be back, so it's a small price to pay for something spectacular."

The kinetic sculpture, made by Phil Price and installed in 2003, was originally paid for by Meridian Energy.