Strong winds pummel Auckland as firefighters tackle SkyCity blaze
Tuesday, 22 October 2019
A nasty southern front has closed roads and brought freezing winds and rains across much of the country.
In Auckland, where firefighters are still battling a blaze at the SkyCity casino in Auckland's CBD, strong southwesterly winds as high as 100k kilometres an hour and heavy showers will impact efforts, though both should ease throughout the day.
A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said the winds would be a major factor that firefighters would be taking into account when planning their tactics.
In the South Island NZTA has closed Milford Road and Haast Pass due to snow and Niwa has warned the 'strong, potentially damaging winds' could raise the risk of downed trees and powerlines and create difficult driving conditions.
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Much of the country woke up to a chilling breeze and some rain, with temperatures dropping across the board.
Several areas of the South Island dipped below 0 degrees Celsius overnight, with Tekapo the lowest at -2.7C.
Metservice meteorologist Amy Rossiter said the forecast looked fairly similar for most areas of the North Island.
Wellington also has a Strong Wind Watch in place, with gusts as strong as 120kmh being recorded at Mt Kaukau, along with showers easing and a chilly 6C start.
A strong wind watch is in place for Auckland, Northland, Great Barrier Island, the Coromandel Peninsula, Waitaki and Waitomo from 8am-4pm on Wednesday.
Wind watches are also in place for Wellington, Wairarapa and Marlborough on Wednesday morning, and parts of the Hawke's Bay and Gisborne areas until 6pm.
Of the main centres, Christchurch has the worst conditions overnight, dropping to 4C and seeing similar showers and winds.
A number of road snowfall warnings were in place for many South Island highways on Tuesday night, including Lewis Pass (SH7), Arthur's Pass (SH73), Porters Pass (SH73), Lindis Pass (SH8), Crown Range Rd and Milford Rd (SH94). A warning was also in place for the North Island's Desert Rd (SH1).
A heavy snow watch was in place for the Kaikoura Ranges, Inland Canterbury and parts of Otago from 11pm on Tuesday through to the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Snow had been falling in parts of inland Canterbury since 5pm Tuesday with about 4cm of snow being recorded in Arthur's Pass and 15cm in Porters Pass.
State Highway 73 between Arthurs Pass and Otira, the major pass that connects Canterbury and the West Coast, was closed because of heavy snowfall about 7pm on Tuesday and remained closed overnight. State Highway 6 between Haast and Makarora was also closed because of snow just after 7.30pm.
While the cold front was set to move away from the county in the late morning, Rossiter said any respite would be brief.
'The front is moving fairly quickly, so it should pass this morning but we've got another front coming which should hit later this afternoon.'
Temperatures are expected to be similarly chilly if not slightly colder in many places for the next two nights.