Huge waves, fierce winds roar through Cook Strait with power of a tropical cyclone

Thursday, 13 July 2017

Waves from Wellington Harbour hit a commuter train from Hutt Valley heading into Wellington.

Wellington's harbour is being churned up as winds gusts of up to 167kmh and waves nearly 12 metres high blast through from Cook Strait.

Niwa Weather said the sustained wind speed at Baring Head - on the North Island's Cook Strait coast - was 125kmh at 8am. That was the highest speed measured at that point since 2004 and typical of a category 3 tropical cyclone.

Commuter Kelvin King filmed the mighty waves smashing over the train tracks as he rode in from the Hutt Valley. Earlier Niwa Weather described as 'incredible' the sustained wind at 6am, which was then 120kmh.

Raing seas hit the seawall at Wellington's Lyall Bay, as the southerly storm batters the capital.

The winter storm that brought snow to much of the South Island during the past few days, moved onto the lower North Island overnight bringing heavy rain and severe gales.

Wellington's south coast is hammered by strong wind and waves.

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The wind and rain are from a low that developed on the front that had moved across the country bringing snow to the south, MetService meteorologist Tom Adams said.

Aimee Feck and Greer, 9, battle the wind to get to holiday accommodation in Lyall Bay, during the Wellington storm.

The low was sitting out to the east of the country, deepening and sucking in cold air from the south and bringing in warm air from the north.

'Those two are converging over central New Zealand. That's why we're getting so much rainfall.'

The low's closeness to New Zealand and its slow moving nature were causing the winds to be strong and long lasting, Adams said.

Wind and rain lash the road at Moa Point and Lyall Bay.

'We would get these kinds of wind speeds a handful of times a year.'

The winds on Thursday were from the south, whereas the strongest winds in Wellington tended to be from the north.

Between 5am and 6am a 167kmh gust was recorded at Brothers Island in Cook Strait, and a few hours later it had an average wind speed of 130kmh..

At Mt Kaukau in Wellington a 167kmh gust was recorded between 8am and 9am, while the average wind speed was 122kmh.

The wind speed was expected to peak at some point during Thursday morning, and should start coming down by midday, Adams said.

A wave crashes over the road at Lowry Bay, Eastbourne, on Thursday morning.

'It's going more southeast, that's going to make it drop down.'

A maximum wave height of 11.8m was recorded at Baring Head - on the North Island south coast - on Thursday morning. T

Wellington's Lyall Bay is battered by a southerly storm.

The storm rumbles in over Wellington's Lyall Bay.

The crew of a tanker moored to the Point Howard Wharf can expect a rough day.

hat was a combination of wind waves on top of the true swell of about 6.5m, Adams said.

'The wind creates small waves on top of the bigger waves. When it's really windy that can add up to quite a few metres.'

Most of the swell had been generated fairly locally, Adams said.

'The southerly winds we've been having in Wellington have whipped up a good swell.'

Around 9.30am, wave heights had dropped off slightly.

Drivers leaving Eastbourne faced treacherous conditions with huge waves breaking over the road near Lowry Bay.