Balmy Bay hottest in the country

Photo / Duncan Brown

Hawke's Bay's extended summer seems to be going another round after the country's hottest temperatures at the weekend and the likelihood of more temperatures above 20C this week.

According to MetService, Napier and Hastings had the highest maximum temperatures on Saturday, at 23.2C and 22.6C respectively, while Hastings had yesterday's maximum of 19.4C, although an unofficial high of 20.9C was recorded in Wairoa.

The temperatures came as a storm hit many other parts of the country, including cutting off road routes in and out of Wellington early last night.

Flooding closed State Highway 1 on the Kapiti Coast, and slips caused brief road closures and delays on State Highway 2 over the Rimutaka Hill between Wellington and Wairarapa.

While some showers were being forecast for parts of Hawke's Bay today, with a maximum temperature in the twin cities of about 15C and minimums down to zero overnight, sunny or cloudy weather was being forecast for the rest of the week, including next weekend.

No rain has been recorded this month at Hawke's Bay Airport, where the historical average for June is over 77mm - on the Takapau Plains 6mm have been recorded (the June average is 85mm) and 7mm have been recorded at Mahia, where the June average is almost 160mm.

But the figures are similar to rainfall last June, when at the equivalent stage of the month there had been 3.8mm at Hawke's Bay Airport, 6.2mm in Hastings, and 13.4mm at Mahia.

There had been 33mm at the Takapau Plains recording station.

A longer-range MetService outlook forecasts rain on Tuesday next week - June 21, the winter solstice (shortest day of the year).