MetService is warning of potential big swells starting late Wednesday. Photo / Paul Taylor
MetService is warning of potential big swells starting late Wednesday. Photo / Paul Taylor
Those on the water in Hawke’s Bay this week should not let the pleasant weather distract them from the danger of large swells.
Mild days with chilly mornings are the story of Hawke’s Bay school holidays, leading into a frosty finish to the week.
Monday opened with a strong wind watch, issued by MetService on Sunday evening, covering Hawke’s Bay south of and including State Highway 5, the Tararua district, Taranaki, the Central High Country, Whanganui and Manawatū from 11am to 7pm.
The watch gave a forecast of west-to-southwest winds which could approach severe gale force in exposed places, with southwesterlies rising to gales gusting 90 km/h south of Eskdale in the afternoon, according to MetService.
Another period of possible severe westerly gales is likely around the ranges of Hawke’s Bay on Tuesday.
MetService meteorologist Luis Fernandes said it looked likely that Monday would remain the windiest day of the week, but that would be mainly in the ranges and not so much in populated areas.
He said there would be a big swell event overnight Wednesday and into Thursday.
“We are likely to see some fairly big waves getting to the area starting late Wednesday,” Fernandes said.
“It may seem quite pleasant and calm, but the sea conditions will be relatively dangerous.”
He said maximum temperatures this week would be about the mid-teens, with chilly lows in the single digits.
The weather is expected to be chilly in the morning and mild during the day across Hawke's Bay's urban centres for the rest of the week. Photo / Warren Buckland
“It does look like things cool down later - so for Tuesday, Napier is getting up to 18C, then we see things dropping down to 15C on Thursday and Friday,” he said.
“It also looks as though you are going to see some chilly mornings heading towards the end of the week, particularly on [Friday], with minimum temperatures in the lower single digits, so it’s likely [we’ll] see frosty patches in some of the sheltered parts of Hawke’s Bay heading into Thursday morning.”
He said temperatures would be very similar across urban centres in the region, with Wairoa being slightly cooler by about a degree due to higher exposure to the southern wind.
“They are also looking at a minimum of 2C on Thursday.”
He said most of the rain will miss Hawke’s Bay, with the week from Tuesday until the weekend looking quite dry.
“There will be some clouds around, but you’ll see quite a lot of sunshine this week, by the look of things.”
