Hawke's Bay hosts sunny New Year's Day

A walker on Te Mata Peak braved the heat yesterday. Photo / Paul Taylor

No one wants rain on their parade for New Year celebrations, but thankfully Hawke's Bay is one of the luckier regions capturing the sunshine.

New Year's Eve brought a mixed bag of weather, with a slow moving front forecast lying over the central South Island while high pressure and westerlies dominated to the north.

Meteorologist Tui McInnes said Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa, Gisborne and Bay of Plenty saw a fine end to 2018.

While Hawke's Bay reached 30C yesterday,New Year's Day will be slightly cooler with a high of 24C in Napier and Hastings.

"It will be mostly fine on New Year's Day, although it's going to be a little bit cooler, Wednesday and Thursday will make up for it with highs of 29 to 30C."

"There might be a few showers at the end of the day as they're developing around the ranges and then they'll move towards the coast later on.

"There's a chance of a few gusty westerlies in isolated areas and the odd chance of thunderstorms later on, but again it's centred around the ranges so urban areas are unlikely to see the activity.

"The weather we're seeing for the next few days, there's going to be some showers developing towards the ranges and they'll eventually drift across to the coastal areas."

Although the year is off to a good start, it will start going slightly downhill towards the end of the week.

Showers are predicted for both Thursday and Friday, but temperatures will remain warm with highs of 26C.

McInnes said overall New Zealand had experienced a whirlwind of weather, with 2018 starting with the hottest month on record.

Then, two ex-tropical cyclones brought widespread rain, resulting in the wettest February on record for Nelson and Blenheim, a windstorm in April cut power to parts of Auckland for days. In June, Christchurch recorded the second cloudiest month in the approximately 70 years of observations.

"It's certainly been an interesting year, so enjoy the New Year from one of the more sunnier regions of New Zealand," McInnes said.