MetService has issued strong wind watches for Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula, Gisborne and Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Coastal Marlborough and Banks Peninsula.
Heavy snow watches apply to Taihape and parts of Whanganui and Manawatu; Wairarapa; and Clutha, Southland and Fiordland.
Due to large swells, four Interislander sailings today and early tomorrow morning have been cancelled.