Hawke's Bay autumn brings changeable conditions for harvest season

Brad, Terry and Jenny Betty make a family effort of bringing in the autumn hops at Godzone Brewery, near Maraekakaho. Photo / Ian Cooper

The arrival of autumn brings with it changeable conditions, and Hawke's Bay residents are advised to brace for both summery and wintery conditions over the next few weeks.

MetService meteorologist Tom Adams said a northerly to more southerly change was typical of autumn, bringing with it cooler conditions.

"In March we do start to see some more changeable conditions."

He said it was "already feeling a bit cooler" in Hawke's Bay.

Temperatures in Napier reached 30C on Saturday before dropping to 25C on Sunday, and Adams expected them to drop further to 22C on Monday.

"Those southerlies really make themselves felt on Monday and again on Tuesday."

While Monday through to Wednesday would be mostly fine with some cloud, the region could also expect periodic showers over the next week, possibly developing into heavy rainfall by Thursday, he said.

"[It's] pretty dry until we get to Thursday when there's a chance of heavy rain.

"The Bay might see a few showers spread off the ranges.

"There may also be a few thunderstorms in localised areas."

This rain is expected to carry over through to Saturday.

He said the weekend had seen some "reasonable rainfall", the heaviest of which was 6mm falling within an hour near Napier.

"The rain has been very showery. I certainly wouldn't say everyone got it."