Surfers take to Lake Taupō after strong winds create waves

Epic lake break. Photo / Facebook

The strong southerly blast that has lashed the country over the past week has been a boon for landlocked surfers, causing small waves to form on Lake Taupō.

A photo posted to a NZ surfing page on Facebook showed a small number of lucky surfers tackling the choppy conditions, which one described as a "bucket list wave".

Another recalled an old NZ surf guide that listed spots on Lake Taupō, saying: " I always thought they were joking but you've now ticked that box".

Many joked that the conditions beat those at their local spot, and some joked about going to Briscoes and buying up all the fans to replicated the freakish conditions.

Taupo this arvo

Posted by zepher.co.nz on Sunday, 5 January 2020

The gusty southwesterly that has been pounding the country for the past few days is finally beginning to ease.

Most North Island areas should feel a noticeable difference by Thursday or Friday when winds are set to register as "sea breezes".

The wind was so strong that one gust registered at a whopping 196km/h at a weather station in Hawke's Bay, leaving meteorologists stunned.

The weather also fuelled a large fire in Hawke's Bay and caused widespread damage in Otago.

MetService duty meteorologist Lewis Ferris said the wind and temperatures would ease and improve as we inched closer to the weekend.

"Yesterday there was a cold front that swept up the country, it made it through Auckland quite early in the morning and there wasn't much rain associated with that ... but behind that we have had this quite strong southwest flow, which has turned up as westerlies in a few places including Hawke's Bay ... Otago and Clutha.

"However, it is going to be easing throughout the week. There is a ridge of high pressure which has associated low winds in the Tasman and that is slowly drifting eastwards over us."