MetService meteorologist Andrew James said the wind got particularly wild between 10am and noon yesterday.
"Out at Nugget Point, which is on the coast and very exposed, it got up to 120kmh, and right at the end of the Otago Peninsula at Taiaroa Head it reached nearly 130kmh.
"Dunedin Airport is not really known as a particularly windy place, but it had gusts of up to about 80kmh; and in Dunedin City, gust of about 60kmh were recorded."
While the Dunedin area fared well in terms of damage, Invercargill did not.
Invercargill Airport record-ed gusts up to 96kmh.
The strong winds brought down trees in Invercargill, and warnings were in place for other parts of the South, where gusts reached up to 120kmh.
Yesterday morning, strong winds started bringing down trees in Invercargill, so the city council decided to close the Queens Park entrance in Queens Dr for about an hour, to "proactively remove a tree at risk due to the high winds".
Scott St was also temporarily closed between Rockdale Rd and Boxall St because of a fallen tree.
Mr James said Stewart Island recorded the highest wind gusts of the Southern region, with about 150kmh.
Due to the persistent southwesterly flow over the past week, MetService issued swell warnings along the east coast of the South Island, which peaked at 9m in the far south yesterday afternoon.
He said they were caused by strong southwesterly winds blowing over the South Island for much of the week.
A front passed over yesterday morning, squeezing the air through much quicker than it had been previously.
Meteorologist Clare O’Connor said the "wild weather" was expected to "fizzle out" today as a narrow ridge settled conditions for most of the country, bringing clearing skies, calming seas, easing winds and in turn dropping temperatures tomorrow morning.
"Over in the east, it’ll be a Dunner stunner ahead of the Football Ferns’ final group match on Sunday night."
