North Island ‘best spot to be’ this weekend as south faces severe weather, warnings issued over 120km/h winds

Keats said some of “the tricky stuff” will be hitting the bottom part of the North Island and “all over” the South Island this weekend.

“Spring-like” conditions are expected in the North Island this weekend. Photo / NZME

Orange strong wind warnings have been issued on Sunday for the Tararua District, Wairarapa and Wellington, all the way south to Canterbury High Country and Southland.

Residents of central and southern regions are being warned to brace for potentially destructive 120km/h gales to hit overnight on Saturday.

An orange heavy rain warning is also in place in the Buller and Grey District ranges, while parts of Nelson, Canterbury and Westland district are under heavy rain watches.

“What we’ve got is a switch to a nor’westerly flow, and we’ve got a couple of fronts. So these fronts will shimmy up the South Island,” Keats said.

“They will bring some very heavy rain to the West Coast of the South Island and they’ll bring some really strong winds. So you’re looking at westerlies along the West Coast and probably around the deep south.

“That gets redirected by the Alps to nor’westers. Very warm nor’westers, so that’s going to be quite windy for places like the Canterbury High Country. And those winds will also hit Wellington, Wairarapa to Southern Hawke’s Bay.”

Happy Friday! ✨

These are your minimum temperatures since midnight.

If this is the end to your work week, hooray! You may have had a chilly commute, but warmer morning temperatures (and some wetter weather) are expected for your weekend ahead.🌡️

Keep up to date at… pic.twitter.com/SEDbNNtToH

— MetService NZ (@MetService) August 20, 2026

Keats said the nor’wester is going to bring temperatures up across the country from today, although some “spillover” snow is still expected in the Alps and the southernmost ski fields this weekend.

“We’re going to see some quite balmy temperatures. Places like Christchurch, Ashburton, Dunedin, 17C or 18C tomorrow. Napier will hit 20C on Sunday.

“And it’s the overnight lows that’ll be really noticeable. It’ll be quite mild. So not much in the way of frosts, especially for the populated areas. But that nor’wester will help keep things quite mild as we run into next week.”