Wellington suburb records blustery 130km/h gusts overnight

Wellington is in clean-up mode after gale-force winds buffeted the city overnight, cancelling flights, downing trees, cutting power and closing roads. 

MetService said the strongest wind gust of 148km/h was recorded on Mt Kaukau at 5am. The windiest suburb was Kelburn, with wind gusts reaching 130km/h around 2am - the most blustery residential area nationwide in the last 24 hours. 

Around 40 flights were cancelled or diverted from Wellington Airport yesterday, with wind gusts peaking at 113km/h around 4am. 

A spokesperson for Wellington Airport said flights are now operating normally; however, there will be some flow-on delays from yesterday’s cancellations. 

The region was originally under an orange severe wind warning from 7pm Monday, but that was moved forward to 1pm. The warning was lifted at 9am today. 

A MetService spokesperson said the gusts experienced overnight didn’t quite reach the “freakout” threshold, occurring a couple of times a year. 

Wellington Electricity’s outage map shows 68 customers will be without power from 9am to 1pm in Miramar and Seatoun while power lines are repaired from wind damage. 

Over in Wadestown, a tree has fallen onto the road in a landslip, blocking Barnard St. 

Part of Oriental Bay was cordoned off due to safety concerns on Monday. Photo / Grace Symmans 

Yesterday, part of Oriental Parade and Evans Bay Parade were cordoned off by police after multiple cyclists fell from their bikes and wing mirrors were blown off cars. 

Weather warnings are still active for the Tararua Range, with a strong wind watch until midday. 

Around the country strong winds also caused problems for Wairarapa, Otago and Southland on the long weekend. 

MetService meteorologist Devlin Lynden told the Herald the strongest winds would ease as the weather system moved north. 

“By midday or early afternoon winds will have eased and turned to lighter and cooler southwesterlies.” 

Grace Symmans is a Wellington-based reporter who covers news in the capital. Grace joined NZME in 2025 as a producer for Wellington Mornings on Newstalk ZB. She can be emailed at grace.symmans@nzme.co.nz.