Brollies down and on with shades

BLOWN OVER: The wind caused havoc on recycling day in Hastings. PHOTO/PAUL TAYLOR.

The Bay is set for a scorcher with light winds, clear skies and the mercury hitting just beneath the 30C notch this weekend.

As yesterday's severe weather-watch moves on, today and tomorrow were expected to be a nice contrast delivering "the calm after the storm," said Metservice meteorologist Lisa Murray.

Hawke's Bay would experience only a fraction of the front that was moving up the country and conditions would ease this morning to reveal clear skies.

She said the weather warning that ran into last night would "all clear away and Saturday would become fine".

Napier was expected to climb to 27C today and dip down to 14C overnight. Hastings would get to 28C with an overnight low of 12C.

"It will mainly be fine along the coast, [with] a few showers that will pop up around the ranges," Ms Murray said.

Light westerly winds would die out in the afternoon with an easterly change.

Tomorrow was expected to top today with 29C set for Napier and 28C forecast for Hastings.

The wind would strengthen and a southerly would move in tomorrow afternoon, bringing back some of those blustery conditions experienced on Friday.

While inland areas were not expected to have any rain, the meteorologist said the showers, coupled with the westerly winds, meant the high temperatures would not bring a "drying heat".

Matching the sunny outlook is an equally stellar line-up of events in the region.

Hawke's Bay Tourism general manager Annie Dundas said there "can't be a better reason to get outdoors" this weekend.

"The weather has been really chilly, so it's nice to finally get the hot, typical weather back."

The Summer Cycling Carnival was well under way, the annual Waimarama Beach Day was set for tomorrow and there were a number of other outdoor events including markets, music and food for locals to experience.

Jocelyn Cowan of the Cancer Society of New Zealand, Hawke's Bay Centre, said it was important locals were vigilant when it came to sun exposure.

"We are having a very hot summer and we want the people of Hawke's Bay to have a great time outdoors this summer - but not at the expense of getting sunburnt," she said. "The message to those living in Hawke's Bay is simple: slip, slop, slap and wrap."

"Slip into some shade and protective clothing; slop on plenty of broad spectrum SPF 30+ sunscreen; slap on a broad-brimmed hat; and wrap on a pair of sunglasses."