Much of the South Island looks set to cop another battering by wild weather as an active front hits the country tomorrow.
MetService says the front will be accompanied by heavy rain and northwest gales, which will weaken over central New Zealand on Monday.
🟠🟡Warnings & Watches🟡🟠
An active front will move onto the South Island on Sunday accompanied by heavy rain and northwest gales, weakening over central New Zealand on Monday. Up to 250 mm of rain is expected in some areas, with severe gale northwesterlies, gusting 120 km/h in… pic.twitter.com/ts0c3s5XcJ
— MetService NZ (@MetService) December 5, 2025
The forecaster has orange heavy rain warnings in place for Fiordland and parts of Canterbury, and an orange strong wind warning for the Canterbury high country, where severe gale northwesterlies could gust up to 120kmh in exposed places.
Further south there is also a strong wind watch for Fiordland, Southern Lakes parts of Southland and Central Otago.
The strong winds will be accompanied by high temperatures in many places, especially on the east coast. Dunedin has a forecast high of 28C tomorrow, as does Oamaru, while further north Christchurch is expected to hit 29C.
In inland Otago, Alexandra is predicted to reach 27C, while Queenstown and Wanaka are slightly cooler on 23C.
– Allied Media