Heavy rain, strong wind watches following fog disruption

12:33 pm today

Photo: Supplied

Fog has disrupted dozens of flights across the country this weekend, with strong winds and heavy rain still on the way for much of lower South Island.

Heavy rain watches were in place on Sunday for the ranges of Westland and Fiordland, north of Doubtful Sound.

MetService warned the amount of rain could "approach warning criteria".

It said the ranges of Westland had a moderate chance of being upgraded from a watch to a warning.

Your Sunday forecast...

Strengthening northwesterly winds for central and southern regions with a Strong Wind Watch for Canterbury High Country and the Plains near the foothills where winds may approach severe gale in exposed places.

A band of rain spreading onto the… pic.twitter.com/USKhe0hvNj

— MetService NZ (@MetService) June 13, 2026

Canterbury high country and the plains near the foothills are under a strong wind watch from 12pm on Sunday.

Northwest winds could approach severe gale in exposed places, MetService said.

The wind watch has a moderate chance of upgrading to a warning, with all watches in place until late Sunday or early Monday morning.

Fog disruptions

Fog disrupted dozens of flights over the weekend, with restrictions lifting at Auckland Airport on Sunday morning.

There were five flights on Sunday - from Tauranga, Napier and Palmerston North - that were delayed as a result of the fog restriction, which was in place from 11:20pm on Saturday to 9am on Sunday.

It comes after 57 flights were disrupted on Saturday, after fog restrictions were in place between 4:30am and 12pm.

Only essential staff were permitted on the airfield during the fog, the number of vehicles and speed limits were also limited.

A Christchurch Airport spokesperson said they also had a "few [flights] affected" on Sunday morning, however, they said operations had returned "back to normal now".

Wellington Airport fire

It comes after passengers were left stranded, unable to get to their destinations or access their luggage, after a fire at Wellington Airport on Friday night.

A spokesperson for the airport said the southwest pier and main terminal building were evacuated after a smoke alarm was triggered just after 7pm.

There were no reports of injuries.

All Air New Zealand flights in and out of the airport were on hold for about four hours, but the airport spokesperson said some international flights were scheduled to arrive on time throughout the night.

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