Whanganui rattled by winds nearing 90km/h on Monday night

Clear weather is expected in the Whanganui region from Thursday onwards this week. Photo / Bevan Conley

Strong winds rattled the Whanganui region this Monday night.

MetService meteorologist Tui McInnes said the weather station at Whanganui Airport recorded wind gusts as high as 89km/h.

He said the wind gusts were caused by a low-pressure system across the lower North Island, which Whanganui was just to the north of.

He said strong winds were experienced in the region from 6pm to 3am.

"If you get gusts of that amount in Wellington it feels pretty windy, so in most other parts of the country it must feel pretty breezy," McInnes said.

Whanganui District Council said Monday night's weather resulted in some minor surface flooding on Paterson St, which was attended to by Downer.

Senior roading engineer Matt Williams said there was one report of tree branches dropping on to Pauri Rd as a result of strong winds at 3.46pm.

Civil Defence emergency manager Tim Crowe said when he checked the council's after-hours phone service at 9.30pm there had been no calls about issues with trees.

Fire and Emergency Whanganui spokesman Shane Dudley said fire crews were not called to any wind-related incidents.

Looking forward to the rest of the week, McInnes said Wednesday morning was expected to be cold and cloudy with southerly winds coming up from Cook Strait.

However, the weather was expected to clear up across the day and stay fine for the rest of the week, even into the weekend, with winds turning southeasterly.

"Because once this southerly comes through, it dies down and once it eases off a bit it becomes a southeasterly over the North Island, which actually means the Tararuas will trample that cloud and keep you guys nice and fine."

Temperature-wise, McInnes expected temperatures to increase throughout the week as the southerly died down.

Temperatures of 13-14C were expected on Wednesday, increasing to 16-17C on Thursday and Friday, and a high of 18C was expected on Saturday.

Overnight temperatures are expected to remain low across the week with lows of 1-2C expected on Wednesday night, and morning frosts expected throughout the week.

McInnes said the cool overnight temperatures weren't surprising considering the forecast conditions.

"When you get the cool air over you and clear skies, it means at night time things really do cool down," he said.