'Spring-like' weather for most after wet and wild weekend

Author: Zeb Tupa'i,
Publish Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2026, 10:12am

Much of the country is in for a “spring-like” reprieve after a wild weekend of damaging winds, power outages, heavy rain and snow.

Most parts can expect calmer and drier conditions today, with warmer-than-average temperatures forecast for parts of the South Island.

MetService meteorologist Sophie Huntington told the Herald that settled conditions would return for most, with the exception of the West Coast of the South Island, where rain and showers would hang about.

“It’s looking very spring-like you could say, which is nice with some warmer temperatures forecast as well, that’ll be a good change for us all,” she said.

Emergency services and maintenance crews were run off their feet yesterday as severe gusts caused havoc around central New Zealand, cutting power to thousands of homes.

Huntington said a ridge of high pressure would bring more settled conditions, although “pretty strong westerlies” could linger in Fiordland, Southland and around Dunedin.

She picked the sheltered eastern regions of Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay as some of the places to be today.

Fine conditions for main centres

Auckland was also in for a “pretty nice day”, Huntington said, with mainly fine conditions and a high of 16C.

She suggested Wellington could even be “the spot to be”, with fine conditions forecast and a high of 14C.

Christchurch is forecast to reach 18C, while nearby Ashburton could hit 19C, compared with an average of about 13C to 14C at this time of year, Huntington said.

Further south, Dunedin could see “a bit of cloud in the morning and in the late evening, otherwise mainly fine”, she said.

A high of 17C was forecast, which Huntington added was “quite nice” compared with an average of about 12C at this time of year.

Unsettled weather looms

Some wetter weather is expected to return to Southland and Dunedin tomorrow, before “another front comes across” the South Island on Wednesday and begins slowly pushing north.

Huntington said a high-pressure system would initially sit to the west of New Zealand before moving east.

“As that moves off, we’ve got a low-pressure system developing in the Tasman out to the west coast, west of Fiordland, so that’s what’ll be bringing those unsettled conditions again.”

By Thursday, the change could take a wintry turn, with snow potentially lowering to 400 metres in Canterbury and Otago.

Huntington said the low-pressure system would “drag up the cooler air from the Southern Ocean”, bringing the potential for snow across central and southern parts of the South Island.

“The ski fields will be happy with a bit of a late snow for them.”

The North Island should hold on to the settled weather for longer, with Auckland potentially seeing a few showers on Wednesday but the main change was not expected until Friday afternoon.

Huntington said the changeable conditions were typical of spring, when weather systems were less slow-moving.

“It’s good, and then a bit of rain, and then good.”