Hawke’s Bay due for doses of cold and rain this week

Clouds moving in over Hawke's Bay on Tuesday afternoon as a cold front approaches from the south, bringing with it rain. Photo / Warren Buckland

Hawke’s Bay is facing the first of two doses of rain expected to hit the region and a brief cold snap this week as a cold front approaches from the south.

MetService meteorologist Andrew James said that temperatures have dropped across the South Island and snow has been seen in some of the higher central parts.

“As this system makes its way further north, it does bring that cooler air to Hawke’s Bay,” James said.

He said there was rain expected overnight on Tuesday, which could be heavy, but was likely to be brief and clear by morning.

Napier would have lows overnight on Tuesday of about 7C.

Napier and Hastings are expected to have daytime highs of about 15C on Wednesday, down from the 20 - 24C range seen on Tuesday.

There was expected to be a low of about 7C overnight on Wednesday for both Napier and Hastings, before a high of 17 to 18C for the cities on Thursday.

MetService has predicted with low confidence (about a 20 per cent chance) that southwest gales will become severe on Thursday morning and afternoon over parts of Hawke’s Bay.

“In the wake of this front, the low-pressure system sort of tightens up out near the Chatham Islands, and that does bring a stronger pulse of wind over the eastern part of the North Island at the tail end of [Wednesday heading] into Thursday,” James said.

He said the wind is expected to ease and turn northerly on Thursday before a second system hits Hawke’s Bay with some rain late on Saturday and Sunday.

He said it was expected to get super-windy, with gusts expected to reach about 50 kilometres an hour on Wednesday afternoon.