Early winter weather to chill Hawke's Bay over the weekend

Cloud shrouds Te Mata Peak as cars switch their lights on along Havelock Rd, Hastings, in wet, rainy weather yesterday. Photo / Duncan Brown

Winter has kicked in early in Hawke's Bay with rain, wind and possible frosts forecast for the weekend.

A complex trough moving east with a strong southwest flow and fronts bringing bands of cold air, strong winds and showers will be causing this inclement weather.

MetService meteorologist Larissa Marintchenko said the showers, which began yesterday, were expected to continue throughout the weekend and early into next week.

Temperatures would also be quite cold, especially at night, with lows sitting between 4C and 6C for the entire weekend and into next week.

"There could be some frosts in inland places."

Highs were expected to only reach 14C-16C in the weekend and drop to 12C-13C from Monday to Wednesday.

There would be a possibility of snow on the Desert Rd but not Napier-Taupo Rd.

This evening, strong coastal winds would start to ease with a change from southwesterly to westerly flows, she said.

Showers might clear inland in the morning but would start to develop again tomorrow afternoon with clouds increasing in the morning.

Winds would change back to southwest and would become strong again in coastal areas tomorrow afternoon.

Monday would not be much better with clouds and further coastal showers and gales, however, this was expected to ease in the afternoon but be back by evening.

Isolated showers were forecast for inland areas.

"Tuesday will be on an improving trend, there will still be a few showers in the morning, coastal again."

Inland areas would have some fine spells but there would still be some coastal winds and showers, she said.

"Wednesday is mainly fine."

Wind and rain caused problems in Central Hawke's Bay on Thursday afternoon with Central Hawke's Bay District Council reporting two fallen trees on roads.

Motorists were advised to take care with a fallen tree blocking land on Porangahau Rd, 15km from Waipukurau, about 2pm.

A few hours later another tree was blocking an area of Kokatewai Rd, off Kairakau Rd, at about 4pm.

Temperatures were 5C-17C yesterday with lows expected to be the same today and highs reaching only 14C.

Tomorrow is also expected to stay at 5C overnight but should reach 15C during the day.

Monday to Wednesday is expected to be 6C overnight night with Monday dropping to 12C during the day and 13C on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Yesterday morning a strong wind warning was lifted for Hawke's Bay south of Hastings due to the wind easing.