![\"MetService](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/metservice-weather-warnings-and-watches-for-october-26-2026-EA5AATKHK5C3VINURKCBFAZANY.png\")
<\/p>\nGusts strong enough to blow cyclists off their bikes have shut part of Wellington\u2019s waterfront this afternoon as a fast-moving front that dumped 154mm of rain on Milford Sound sweeps north.<\/p>\n
MetService has issued strong wind and heavy rain warnings for most of the South Island and parts of the lower North Island, with police closing a stretch of Oriental Parade and Evans Bay Parade due to severe winds.<\/p>\n
“There have been reports of multiple people falling from bicycles, and wing mirrors being blown off cars,” police said.<\/p>\n
“The road around the point is being closed from Carlton Gore Rd in Oriental Bay, around to Rata Rd in Haitaitai where it intersects with Evans Bay Parade.”<\/p>\n
Wellington Airport said around 20 arrivals had been cancelled due to wind so far, with that number likely to rise.<\/p>\n
“We advise passengers to check directly with their airline for information on specific flights.”<\/p>\n
MetService meteorologist Gerard Bellam told 1News heavy rain was expected for other western parts of the South Island through Monday evening into Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Severe north-westerly gales are hitting ahead of the front. Castle Point, on the Wairarapa coast, recorded a gust of 141km\/h at 8am, while Mount Cook Airfield recorded 124km\/h.<\/p>\n
In Wellington, Kelburn recorded a gust of 122km\/h, and Bellam said the wind was churning up the harbour.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can see the white horses barrelling across the harbour there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Strong northwest gales have whipped up dust across the South Island ahead of a front tracking up the island. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n
A weather station in the Canterbury High Country, about 2000m above sea level, recorded a gust of around 200km\/h. Bellam said the reading did not reflect conditions at ground level but was a warning for anyone in the hills.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople may have seen the warnings, hopefully not gone tramping.\u201d<\/p>\n
The front is expected to approach Christchurch around midnight, before moving up the North Island soon after dawn on Tuesday. It should clear to the north-east by the end of the day, and watches and warnings will expire behind it.<\/p>\n
The front will also bring a sharp drop in temperatures for the south. Dunedin reached 26C on Monday, a degree warmer than Sunday and well above its late-October average of about 16C. Christchurch and Timaru both hit 25C.<\/p>\n
Bellam said the warmth was caused by the Foehn effect, when north-westerly air dries out crossing the Southern Alps and heats up quickly as it descends onto the Canterbury Plains.<\/p>\n
A cold south-westerly change is due behind the front, and Dunedin\u2019s maximum is forecast to drop to 13C on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re literally halving the expected maximum there tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Invercargill is expected to fall from 22C on Monday to 12C on Tuesday, then 11C on Thursday, below its usual 15C.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
MetService weather warnings and watches for October 26, 2026. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n
Full list of weather warnings and watches<\/p>\n
Heavy Rain Warning – Orange<\/p>\n
Tararua Range – 9 hours from 2am to 11am Tuesday<\/p>\n
Grey and Buller districts – 8 hours from 10pm Monday to 6am Tuesday<\/p>\n
Headwaters of the Otago lakes and rivers – 11 hours from noon to 11pm Monday<\/p>\n
Fiordland – 11 hours from 9am to 8pm Monday<\/p>\n
Westland District – 18 hours from 9am Monday to 3am Tuesday<\/p>\n
Headwaters of the Canterbury lakes and rivers, about and south of Arthur\u2019s Pass – 11 hours from 4pm Monday to 3am Tuesday<\/p>\n
Strong Wind Warning – Orange<\/p>\n
Marlborough – 15 hours from 5pm Monday to 8am Tuesday<\/p>\n
Wairarapa – 14 hours from 9pm Monday to 11am Tuesday<\/p>\n
Wellington – 15 hours from 7pm Monday to 10am Tuesday<\/p>\n
Canterbury High Country and the Plains – 19 hours from 9am Monday to 4am Tuesday<\/p>\n
Otago – 11 hours from 10am to 9pm Monday<\/p>\n
Fiordland, Southland and Stewart Island – 10 hours from 9am to 7pm Monday<\/p>\n
Heavy Rain Watch<\/p>\n
Queenstown Lakes District away from the headwaters, Southland and Stewart Island – 10 hours from 1pm to 11pm Monday<\/p>\n
Strong Wind Watch<\/p>\n
Tararua District – 14 hours from 11pm Monday to 1pm Tuesday<\/p>\n
Horowhenua and K\u0101piti – 8 hours from 3am to 11am Tuesday<\/p>\n
Christchurch – 8 hours from 6pm Monday to 2am Tuesday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gusts strong enough to blow cyclists off their bikes have shut part of Wellington\u2019s waterfront this afternoon as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[158,1080,111,43,139,69,15488,3393,52,1241],"class_list":["post-641741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-christchurch-canterbury","tag-dunedin-otago","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-southland","tag-weather-news","tag-wellington","tag-west-coast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}