Weather

Gale force winds, torrential rain, thunderstorms and now unseasonal snow have pounded the South Island.

Heavy rain, which has already forced the closure of Fiordland's Milford Track, will make its way up the South Island tomorrow, accompanied in places by powerful winds.

A torrential downpour that struck Dunedin kept firefighters busy dealing with reports of flooding around the city this afternoon.

A new cyclone forming in the Coral Sea in the Pacific could track towards New Zealand, bringing the same conditions with it as the recent Cyclone Evan, forecasters say.

Despite earlier predictions of a wet new year, Otago is now expected to have a mostly dry but possibly cooler start to 2013.

People outraged Dunedin City's official temperature for Christmas Day was only 21degC need to be aware the figure is only ''spot data'', the MetService says.

Wind and rain look set to dampen New Year festivities over many parts of the country.

The Christmas plans of thousands of travellers were thrown into turmoil after thick fog in Wellington forced the cancellation of more than 100 flights.

Thousands of travellers have had their Christmas plans thrown into turmoil after fog at Wellington airport today forced the cancellation of more than 100 flights.

Holidaymakers are being warned that remnants of Cyclone Evan will be passing through the upper North Island over Christmas, causing rivers to rise with surface flooding possible.