Hawke's Bay's windy weather woes on the spring equinox

Spring weather in Hawke's Bay - some wind to follow? Photo / Paul Taylor

Parts of Hawke's Bay were facing strong wind warnings for the second time in a week.

A strong wind watch issued by national weather agency MetService for tomorrow from 9am to 9pm said winds may approach severe gale force in exposed places south of Hastings, through Central Hawke's Bay and the Tararua district.

Severe gales are classified as over 85km/h and a similar forecast a week earlier was followed by such winds as peak gusts of 96km/h on the Takapau Plains in central Hawke's Bay, about 90km'h at Cape Kidnappers and 80km/h at Hawke's Bay Airport, just north of Napier.

The latest forecast came with the approach of the spring equinox at 1.30am tomorrow, after which daylight hours start becoming longer than those of the night.

It creates some havoc for forecasters, with conditions during the week expected to be mainly fine, but with some cloud and "spots" of rain, according to a MetService meteorologist.

Private operator Weatherwatch was saying today temperatures above late-September average could yield to a weather "bomb" and a wintry change for parts of the country late in the weekend and early next week.

Northern Hawke's Bay is looking for rain, a grass and scrub fire on the Mahia Peninsula last week having been a warning in a month highlighting low rainfall in the area this year.
According to daily figures published by Hawke's Bay Today, rainfall at Mahia this year
totals less than 640mm, just under two-thirds of the annual average to late September.

There had been 56.2mm of rain this month, compared an average of about 112mm for the first three weeks of the month.

Rainfall in the Napier-Hastings area remained below average.

MetService meteorologist Tom Adams said there is "classic Spring weather pattern" consisting of high pressure over the upper North Island and strong westerlies further south.

"Interspersed in those westerlies are frequent fronts that bring dynamic and changeable weather," he said.