Strong winds are steadily building across New Zealand today and gusty winds tonight will affect campers in both islands.

As of 5pm today strong gusts were being recorded in Auckland with gusts around 55km/h in western areas.

A fairly strong westerly in Tauranga will keep those in tents awake tonight however it’s those from Gisborne to Wellington who will be blown around the most tonight.

While it’s still near the 30 degree mark for many of these areas gusts to 60km/h are now being recorded with Castlepoint in southern Wairarapa recording gusts to 130km/h this hour.

About Lower Hutt and Wellington gusts to 70km/h are being detected and Blenheim, Wanaka and Queenstown are around the 50km/h mark.

In Invercargill strong westerlies are now near 80km/h.