Strong and gusty conditions in Whanganui to clear for ‘fairly pleasant’ weekend

MetService meteorologist Braydon White says winds will die back and the weather will start to clear into the weekend. Photo / NZME

Gusty winds are expected for Whanganui and surrounding areas, with a strong wind watch now upgraded to a warning from midday today to 9am tomorrow.

Winds could reach up to 120km/h in exposed places, causing potential damage to trees, powerlines and other unsecured structures.

MetService meteorologist Braydon White said Whanganui was “a bit sheltered” from the worst conditions as a big subtropical low hung over the west of the country.

“It’s northeasterlies, so the worst of the rain will be to the northeast.

“But it does mean that you get some fairly decent northeasterlies coming down off the mountains.”

Tomorrow will have a high of 26C and a low of 16C, with the highs steadying to 24C over the weekend.

White said the rain was expected to end by Friday night.

“The winds will die back and things start to clear out into the weekend.”

Saturday could have one or two showers, but it should be a “fairly pleasant day”.

Sunday would be “fairly nice”.

MetService said people should drive carefully, secure items that could be picked up by strong winds and keep up to date with forecasts for severe weather information.

Noam Mānuka Lazarus is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle.