Tale of two cities: 130kph gusts for Wellington, 36 degrees for Napier

Sunday, 11 January 2026

The drive from Napier to Wellington is about four hours but the difference in the Sunday climate might as well have them at opposite poles.

Wellington Airport’s arrivals and departure boards showed a number of cancellations as strong winds buffeted the capital on Sunday.

While Metservice meteorologist Ngaire Wotherspoon was describing 130kph northwesterly gusts on Mt Kaukau and 110kph at Kelburn late morning into midday, Napier was sitting at 35.8degC and ticking up towards 36C.

There was a chance of breaching the Hawke’s Bay city’s record of 37.5C set in 1994.

Hastings was sitting at 35C at 1pm but was forecast to hit 38C while Gisborne was on 31.9C and expected to reach 33C.

The same warm air mass from Australia that was warming Hawke’s Bay was also in Christchurch, which was on 31.9C and expected to reach 33C.

Wellington’s wind, which was warmed by being on the edge of the Australian air mass, would start to back off late on Sunday evening and early Monday, Wotherspoon said..

Meanwhile, Metservice had Paihia, Whitianga, Tauranga and Whakatane under heat alerts with a hot afternoon and night ahead.

There was heavy rain in the west of the South Island.