Gusts of 70km/h Today

We've had another really blowy day today--Tuesday December 29. The following sums it all up.

Wellington wind summary:
• Wellington is located in a River of Wind - a wind corridor between the South Island and the North Island.
• Wellington is the windiest main centre in New Zealand with a mean annual wind speed of 22 km/h.
• Wellington also has an average of 22 days per year with mean wind speeds over 63 km/h (40 knots).
• Wellington averages 173 days a year with wind gusts greater than about 60 km/h or 32 knots.
• October is generally the windiest month of the year with a mean of 27 days with wind speeds over 15 knots, 19 of those days are over 20 knots.
• North is by far the most common wind direction, blowing from this direction (0 degrees) a massive 37.6% of the time.
• Wellington is one of the windiest cities in the world (possibly the windiest) and is windier than other southern windy cities including Cape Town, Perth, and Geraldton.
• The strongest wind speeds where recorded at Hawkins Hill of 248km/h (134 knots) on the 6 November 1959 and 4 July 1962.
Wellington is located next to Cook Strait, which forms a narrow gap between the mountain ranges of the North and South Islands. This gap between the islands and mountain ranges accelerates the wind through the Cook Strait making Wellington a very windy city.