The next few days are going to be windy across New Zealand with the north being affected today and Wellington southwards tomorrow and New Years Day.

WeatherWatch.co.nz describes the current weather pattern as “classic El Nino” and says it’s very similar to what we’d expect in November.

Strong winds will peak over the North Island today then are likely to build again about Southland tomorrow and spread into other areas by New Years Day south of Wellington.

At the time this story was written MetService had a severe wind warning in place for the North Island from Havelock North to Eketahuna with gusts up to 120km/h until noon today.

New Years Day will see gales, possibly severe, about Southland, central Otago, inland Canterbury and later in the day and into Saturday about Wellington.