Wind gusts of up to 211km/h were recorded in the Canterbury high country overnight, as changeable spring weather brought "four seasons in one day".
Heavy rain was expected for parts of the Tararua Range, Canterbury headwaters and Buller, while strong northwest winds could affect Wellington, Wairarapa, Hawke's Bay, Marlborough and Canterbury today.
Snow was also forecast on Milford Rd.
MetService meteorologist Heather Keats told Breakfast "it just might be a stay indoors kind of a weekend for many".
Severe gale, heavy rain warnings as front packs a punch - watch on TVNZ+
"We've got a front that's moving on, so that's responsible for all the watches and warnings that we've seen. It's brought a lot of rain and some pretty strong winds."
She said 211km/h gusts were recorded in Canterbury high country, and Mount Kaukau recorded 135km/h gusts.
"So not surprising if we do see up to 130km/h gusts for places like Wellington this morning."
She said there had been more than 3000 lightning strikes recorded across the country in the past 12 hours - with more to come.
Watches and warnings were in place across the lower North Island and many areas of the South Island, which Keats said could get "lots of thunderstorms, squally with hail".
"We might even see some small tornadoes too for the likes of the West Coast of the South Island.
"But that thunderstorm risk — which is where we see those real heavy downpours and those strong winds and hail — that risk extends all the way along the lower south, up through Dunedin, and then all the way up to Taranaki on the western side as well."
Keats said the upper half of the North Island, including Auckland, was actually looking "not too bad" for the weekend.
"But we do have another low pressure system that's going to start to move over, sort of forming out of the Tasman. It will hit the South Island or the top of the South Island. That's going to bring another front that extends over the North Island as well, so it's likely we will see a couple more watches and warnings issued for Saturday and Sunday."
"I wouldn't be surprised if we saw some more watches and warnings, especially for wind. It is spring; it's really changeable, and we've got sort of four seasons in one day, and then it repeats for the next few days."
Current watches and warnings
Heavy Rain Warning - Orange
Tararua Range – expires at 1pm.
Headwaters of the Canterbury lakes and rivers about and south of Arthur's Pass National Park – expires at 8am.
Strong Wind Warning - Orange
Wellington and Wairarapa excluding Tararua District – expires at midday.
Heavy Rain Watch
Ranges of Buller – expires at 9am.
Strong Wind Watch
Hawke's Bay west and south of Wairoa, and the Tararua District – seven hours from 9am to 4pm today.
Marlborough –expires at 10am.
Canterbury High Country, and Canterbury Plains close to the foothills – expires at 9am.
Road Snowfall Warning
Milford Road (SH94) – expires at 6pm.
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