Strong winds and showers in Whanganui expected to continue through the beginning of the week

The Whanganui District Council reported two roads remained closed and many trees had been brought down across the region. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui has been battered by stormy weather over the weekend affecting roads and bringing down trees around the district.

Metservice meteorologist Peter Little expected strong winds in the Whanganui region to continue through the beginning of this week.

The Metservice wind gauge at Whanganui Airport recorded gusts of up to 81km/h on Saturday evening.

This followed gusts exceeding 90km/h on Friday.

"It was generally gusting around that 70 to 80-kilometre mark," Little said.

With those high winds, Little said Whanganui central had seen a maximum of 1mm of rain over the last 24 hours.

Little said this was due to southwesterly winds keeping rain systems towards South Taranaki and further upstream towards Pipriki.

Showers are expected to return later on Sunday as the winds turn westerly, with the potential of heavier showers and hail later in the day.

"We've got an area of high pressure over the Tasman Sea, and that's only inching very slowly towards the country so it's driving these south-westerlies over us," he said.

Because of this Little expected periods of showers to remain for at least the first half of the week, with strong westerly winds at times.

Winds and showers are expected to reduce late in the week once the high-pressure system moves in.

"At this stage, it's looking like it's going to be a mixture of sunshine and showers for the first half of the week, and then the second half is just dominated by sunshine," he said.

However, Little said the reduction in winds would come with a drop in overnight temperatures, with a projected low of 4C on Friday night.

Meanwhile, Raupiu Road in Kakatahi had been closed due to a large slip on Saturday. The road was open again by Sunday afternoon.

Kauarapaoa Road was also still closed at the Magaiti Stream due to a bridge washout, according to the council.

The council also reported that multiple trees were down throughout the region, which crews were cleaning up.

With the gale winds and sporadic rain expected, the council advised motorists to drive carefully.