A "late spring blast" is coming to New Zealand with WeatherWatch warning severe gales are forecast for the interior South Island and lower North Island.
The cause is a series of fronts coming out of the Southern Ocean and pushing aside the La Niña weather pattern.
"The first cold front will graze the South Island today, which will be followed by the second and more powerful front on Monday," WeatherWatch states on Sunday.
"The heaviest falls will be on Monday across Fiordland and the southern West Coast, and isolated to scattered rain will linger afterwards.
"Northwesterly winds will pick up towards Monday and persist until Tuesday night. Gusty winds over 100km/h is likely across mountainous areas, Cook Strait, coastal areas of southwestern South Island, and Stewart Island."
A NIWA graphic shows the active jet stream bringing the blustery weather, with multiple places in for gusts over 100km/h.
"Have a look at Mother Nature's wind symphony in play over the next few days," it says.
Meanwhile MetService has provided satellite imagery showing cloud moving across the lower South Island.
"Here comes the wind," it says on Twitter.
"Winds continue to strengthen across central and southern Aotearoa today (Sunday) and tomorrow.
"Winds rise to severe gale in exposed places for some, and we have a collection of wind watches and warnings in place."
These include a moderate confidence of rainfall accumulations reaching warning amounts in Buller on Tuesday, and low confidence of warning amounts of rain for the Tararua Range that same day. These reduce to low for Westland and Fiordland on Tuesday and Wednesday.
In addition, there is a moderate confidence of severe gales in exposed parts of Wairarapa including the Tararua District, Wellington and Marlborough on Tuesday, and also for the Canterbury High Country on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Also on Monday and Tuesday, there is moderate confidence of severe gales in exposed parts of Fiordland, Southland and Otago on Tuesday and Wednesday, though the risk is confined to the south coast on Tuesday.
