‘It’s a pretty windy day’: Gusts blow over the South Island, bringing ‘destructive’ swells

Tuesday, 9 June 2026

A swimmer braves the swell at New Brighton Beach on Tuesday morning.

It’s a windy Tuesday as south westerlies blow against the South Island, pushing “destructive” waves up around the East Coast.

Marlborough is bearing the brunt of the blustering winds in the South Island, MetService meteorologist Sylvia Martino said, while in Wellington a local state of emergency has been declared for the south coast with evacuations ordered.

In Marlborough a wind watch is in place for south of Ward and into the Awatere Valley. The winds may approach severe gale in exposed places with a moderate chance of this being upgraded to a warning.

A tree has toppled near the riding school in Heathcote Valley, on Bridle Path Rd.

In Banks Peninsula, strong winds appeared to have downed a tree in Heathcote Valley.

Overnight, a buoy 17 kilometres off Banks Peninsula recorded a 9.9 metre wave, she said.

By about 6am, the maximum wave was 9.6m, with average waves reaching about 5.8m.

‘Destructive’ swells could batter the coastline of Te Waipounamu. (File photo)

Further south, near Timaru, the average wave was about 2.2m, and just south of Otago Peninsula the average wave recorded was 4.8m.

Lyttelton Harbour’s mouth was recording average waves of about 1m.

“So it’s a good day to stay away from the beach. The maximum wave can be twice as high as the average wave.”

Birdlings Flat near Te Waihora Lake Ellesmere is most exposed to the waves.

The swells are expected to increase in size until around midday, before the wind begins to die down in the afternoon and overnight, she said.

“It’s a pretty wind day for a lot of people, particularly on the East Coast of both islands, that’s what’s driving the swells. On top of that we’ve got locally strong wind.”

Across the motu temperatures are not expected to reach higher than 15C, with overnight lows of zero, bringing frosts to the Garden City and beyond, she said.