Weather: Cold temperatures for Canterbury; rain, wind for North Island

They reached the top, now comes the drop for Cantabrians on the New Zealand weather roller coaster ride from hot to cold.

And it’s not flash elsewhere either as South Taranaki, Manwawatū and Tararua remain under a strong wind watch and Tasman west of Motueka has a heavy rain watch after a late-week lashing from an unwelcome warm, wet and windy visitor from the tropics.

In the Garden City, where residents sweltered under a summery high of 28C on Wednesday, the mercury will plunge to a chilly 13C today.

Further south, it will be even colder, with highs of 11C expected in Ashburton and Timaru.

The switch won’t be quite so sharp elsewhere, but the whole country will notice a cool change following a late week of mild temperatures after an atmospheric river dragged warm, wet weather down from the tropics.

Today’s weather will be less dramatic than the past two days, albeit still wet and windy in parts of the country – but parents of school-aged kids now on a two-week break will be relieved to know conditions are set to improve across the country from tomorrow, says MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris.

A rail bridge over the Rangitata River in South Canterbury has been left sagging after floodwaters washed away a supporting pillar on Friday. Photo / George Heard

Alfie Leach, 2, and his grandmother Wendy Leach enjoy the strong winds on Kohimarama Beach in Auckland yesterday. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Although, he said, it always paid to check the weather before an outing or trip away.

“As we move into next week it looks a lot more settled than it has been this week. But that’s not to say there’s going to be no [poor] weather this week, there may be some smaller bands of rain passing through.”

Heavy rain in Westland over the past two days has caused slips, damaging and closing some roads, while floodwaters also washed away a pillar of a rail bridge over the Rangitata River in Canterbury yesterday.

State Highway 6 between Fox Glacier and Haast in Westland suffered multiple slips and was closed on Thursday. Photo / Waka Kotahi

A Marlborough township was put on evacuation alert due to rising river levels and Aucklanders faced strong winds and bursts of heavy rain on their morning commutes yesterday. Others in our largest city lost power, and some flights were cancelled a day earlier.

But while Auckland and Northland would enjoy drier conditions today, a westerly wind promised a breezy day in central and southern parts of the North Island, along with some rain – mostly in western areas from Waikato south.

The South Taranaki coast, coastal Whanganui, Manawatū and the Tararua District are under a strong wind watch from midday to 10pm today, when westerly winds may reach severe gale force for a time.

Windy conditions will kick off the school holidays for the North Island.

On Saturday, the strongest gusts are expected where you see the gold (🟡) colouring. pic.twitter.com/AklGMdKy9i

— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) April 12, 2024

Niwa warned on X that winds would cause waves of more than 5 metres near and off the west of the North Island today.

A heavy rain watch has also been issued by MetService for Mt Taranaki until 6pm, and Tararua Range from noon to 9pm today.

The capital can expect a high of 16C and showers, some heavy from the afternoon, with thunderstorms possible north of Ngauranga Gorge.

This would ease in the evening, but from late afternoon northerlies would switch to strong southerlies, gusting to 90km/h, Ferris said.

“It’s looking pretty miserable in Wellington.”

Fishers make the most of high tide at Pilot Bay, Tauranga, despite the foul weather yesterday. Photo / Alex Cairns

In the South Island, Southland and Otago looked the most promising regions for those heading outdoors today, Ferris said.

“It looks like there will be some wet weather for most of the island, but Southland and Otago are looking the driest. But it will be quite cool.”

A surfer at Mount Maunganui's main beach yesterday. Photo / Alex Cairns

KiwiRail has closed the bridge over the Rangitata River. Photo / George Heard

A heavy rain watch was also in place for Tasman northwest of Motueka until 5pm today.

But tomorrow a “smattering of showers” would be largely restricted to lowly populated areas from the Southern Alps north to Nelson Lakes in the South Island, he said.

“In the North Island … although it’s not looking particularly sunny, it’ll be drier and less windy.”

Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.