A cyclist rides on the flooded Rotary Pathway, Marine Parade, Napier. Photo / Warren Buckland.
A cold start has greeted Hawke's Bay this morning as the year's first "winter storm" has well and truly arrived.
Although the region is expected to get off lightly compared with other parts of the country.
Metservice Meteorologist, Tom Adams said the worst of the weather for the region is expected to hit today, with strong gusty gales and heavy rain.
There are no severe wind warnings or watches in place for the region currently.
"There is going to be strong gusty gale but we are not expecting it to reach severe gale in Hawke's Bay," Mr Adams said.
He said there was a very strong northwesterly at the moment, which is expected to turn to a strong southerly this afternoon.
"Because a lot of this weather is coming in from the west, Hawke's Bay is not going to see anything like as much as other people are going to see to the west of the region," Mr Adams said.
In terms of this rain, it is going to start easing tomorrow morning and then clear by tomorrow evening.
It is expected to reacha high of 21C in Hastings and 22C in Napier, with a low of 5C overnight.
There is currently no severe thunderstorm watch in place for the region, but Mr Adams says there could be less severe thunderstorms over Hawke's Bay this afternoon, bringing falls of rain up to 10 to 25mm per hour.
Best Start will now be means tested across all three years it is offered.