While winds are reaching over 40 km/h locally, the Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning for Damaging Winds on Monday morning across a large stretch of the NSW coast, incorporating Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong.

That warning was issued at 10.12am, with the scheduled 10.15am flight from Tamworth to Sydney delayed by over an hour and a half, while flights, both ways, are expected to be delayed by up to an hour well into the afternoon.

The BoM warning forecast wind gusts of up to 90 km/h on the coastal fringe, strengthen in to Monday afternoon and evening before easing on Tuesday.

At midday on Monday the second Sydney runway was reopened, although domestic 25 flights had been cancelled.

Meanwhile, those strengthening winds have exhausted firefighters on edge in the north of the state, as the fires that wreaked havoc in Tenterfield over the weekend continue to burn.

The Drake fire had burnt out over 32,000 ha by midday on Monday, and is deemed out-of control, while the Tenterfield fire, which claimed two houses and injured a firefighter over the weekend, is being controlled with the assistance of water bombers and heavy plant machinery.

The Bees Nest fire, to the east of Armidale, also continues to rage and has burnt out over 63,000 ha, with RFS crews expecting the blaze "to take up to a month to contain."