Harbour bridge may close as polar blast hits north with 100km/h gusts
Motorists are being warned that strong, sudden winds could close the Auckland Harbour Bridge intermittently tomorrow, as a polar blast brings wind, frost and snow to other parts of New Zealand.
Auckland is expecting strong southwesterly winds on Saturday with gusts potentially reaching gale-force, prompting MetService to issue a yellow-level weather watch for the region from 11am to 7pm.
New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) said it expects wind gusts of up to 75-85 km/h between 4am and 11am, before ramping up to speeds of 90-100 km/h until 10pm that evening.
“With the potential for sudden and high wind gusts, traffic control measures may be implemented on the bridge including the possibility of short closure periods,” NZTA said.
“The moveable lane barrier will be operated as normal during this evening’s peak (Friday) and over the weekend.”
Photo / Alex Burton
The lower North Island’s Tararua Range is also under a heavy rain watch from now until midnight, with periods of heavy rain and thunderstorms possible from late afternoon.
MetService meteorologist Alana Burrows told the Herald cool temperatures and snowfall are set to follow today’s “wet and windy” conditions.
“We’ve got a series of fronts crossing the whole country and bringing some heavy rain to the West Coast of the South Island,” she said.
“It’s getting very cold, particularly for the South Island on Saturday, but then that cold air is spreading across into the North Island as well.
“It’s basically turning wet and windy through Friday and then into Saturday, but through the second half of Saturday we will start to see conditions clearing.”
Behind the fronts, a cold southwesterly change will send temperatures tumbling.
“We have got some colder air coming up from the south, so we’re going to see temperatures quite quickly plummet with this colder air coming from the southwest.”
Mount Cook is set to be one of the coldest parts of the nation this weekend, with a high of only 3 degrees and a low of -11.
Queenstown is forecast to reach 5 degrees on Saturday before dropping to -5 overnight, with severe frosts expected.
“We could see frosts overnight Sunday into Monday across both islands.”
The cold snap will also bring snow to lower elevations.
“As we get that colder air coming up, we’re going to see some snow showers.”
Snow levels could drop to 300m in Otago and Southland from Friday night into early Saturday, before lowering to around 400m in Canterbury, mainly affecting the high country and foothills.
Road snowfall warnings are in place for Milford Rd and Crown Range Rd.
“The skifields down there are going to get snow too, which is good for them”, Burrows said.
“The North Island could see some snow also through the weekend, so for the skifields, they’ll possibly get topped up.”
It is expected to become calmer during the second half of Saturday, although Auckland is forecast to become increasingly wet throughout Sunday.
The remainder of the country will be fairly dry and settled.
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