“Even if people don’t have a warning, this is quite a bit stronger than we’ve had for a few weeks now. So, a reminder to check for things like bins that are out, anything that needs to be tied down or brought inside,” Martino said.
Most of the North Island will hold on to the same settled conditions from the last few days, with sunshine sticking around for many places.
“Places that have been sunny, maybe a bit of morning fog, will be hanging on to that. There will be a few showers in the eastern parts of the upper North Island, but really for most places, it’s a pretty nice day,” Martino said.
Wellington will be among the cloudier spots today, with more cloud expected to spread into western parts of the island later in the day, ahead of the incoming front.
Despite the wind and wet, temperatures are not expected to plunge dramatically.
Martino said northwesterly winds would bring warmer afternoon temperatures to eastern parts of the South Island, with Ashburton through to Blenheim expected to reach the high teens and Christchurch forecast to climb to 20C.
Cooler weather will follow the front but is not expected to be a “super-cold blast”.
“We’re only looking at lows of six or seven degrees overnight into the next day,” she said.
Looking ahead to the weekend, Martino said the front would stall around the upper South Island, bringing a damp couple of days for Buller, the Grey District and the northern parts of Westland.
Conditions are looking to be “reasonably dry” for most other parts of the country heading into Friday and Saturday.
“We’ve got another wee front sweeping by the very south of the South Island, showers carrying on for northern parts of the North Island, but in between it’s looking not too bad.”
