Hawke's Bay avoids worst of wild weather

Michelle and Noah Beneke make the most of the sunshine in Napier. Photo / Duncan Brown

Hawke's Bay residents may have used a few more pegs than usual to keep their washing on the line as the region battled against gale force winds yesterday.

A low pressure system currently lying to the northeast of New Zealand ended the week with some gusty winds.

Severe Weather Watches and Warnings were in force over areas in the north and the central plateau. The warnings and watches were largely for the potential of strong easterly winds and heavy rain between Gisborne and the Bay of Plenty.

"There's been some really severe weather in the North Island," Metservice Meteorologist April Clark said.

Other regions across the country had experienced surface flooding and King tides, but Hawke's Bay managed a narrow escape.

"Gisborne has been bearing the brunt of the heavy weather and has sheltered Hawke's Bay - just.

"If it turns slightly more easterly then you guys will get it as well."

Yesterday Hawke's Bay encountered strong gusts of up to 70km/h with exposed coastal areas being hit the hardest, but the winds began to die out by the evening.

"It's a good trend for the region on Monday, most people should wake up to a fine morning, as those easterlies turn into a lighter north-west.

"Hawke's Bay does really well in westerly conditions, so you have all those ranges to the west and they just shelter you from the rain."

Clark said today would be a fine and sunny day, as the rest of the country experienced showers in western parts of the country.

"Tuesday and Wednesday and are looking fine and calm. Wednesday will see a few westerlies, but they will start to die out as the day progresses."

"It looks like there might be something brewing in the later part of the week, there might be a bit of rain, but for the early part of the week-it's looking pretty good."

Temperatures would remain fairly consistent during the week with highs sitting at 13C and overnight lows near 2-3C."

"The night temperatures will be pretty chilly as there's no cloud cover, so it puts the region on the frontline for a few frosts as the week progresses."