Outlook mainly fine for big day but boaties need to take care

Blustery winds that battered the top half of the North Island are expected to ease today but boaties have been warned that conditions could be rough for those heading out on Christmas Day.

Wind gusts reached 80km/h on the Auckland Harbour Bridge yesterday. A wind warning was in place from 6am.

A Transit New Zealand spokeswoman said motorcyclists in particular had had a rough ride as the wind regularly reached speeds of around 78km/h during the day.

But the strong southwesterlies were expected to die down today from Northland to Taranaki, although they were likely to remain strong in Gisborne and Hawkes Bay until later in the day.

The coastguard issued a gale warning for the Hauraki Gulf yesterday as winds reached just over 80km/h, but northern coastguard spokeswoman Jo Ottey said conditions should improve today, with southwesterlies peaking at 20 knots or 37km/h.

Tomorrow, the wind was forecast to switch around to the northwest and reach 25 knots, or 46km/h, with another change overnight as the wind again moved back to the southwest and brought showers.

Ms Ottey said the weather was borderline for boating. Boaties were urged to carry out all their safety checks and make sure they had good communications.

A "two-minute" form was available from the coastguard and should be filled in with details of the boat and safety gear, the people on board and return times.

"If people want them posted out to leave on the fridge or with a friend, they are more than welcome to give us a call," Ms Ottey said. But those who filled in two-minute forms were the ones who had already taken sensible and basic safety precautions.

Ms Ottey said very high frequency (VHF) radio was better and more reliable than a cellphone but anyone in trouble anywhere around the coast could ring *500 for help.

The weather forecast is mainly fine for the North Island on Christmas Day with some high cloud and showers in western areas.

The South Island should be fine in the east with some showers and cloud in western parts and morning rain in Otago and Southland followed by coastal showers.

In Otago, rain in the past few days has pushed rivers over or near flood warning levels.

Otago Regional Council monitoring shows that since Tuesday 30mm to 70mm of rain fell across the Otago region.