Hawke's Bay's New Year's Day fine, possibly thunder Sunday

New Year's Day will be fine but cloudy. Photo / Paul Taylor

New Year's Day in Hawke's Bay is set to be fine, but showers and possibly thundery weather will move in on Sunday.

MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris said the cooler than usual temperatures the Bay is currently experiencing are due to southerly wind flow.

This wind will move away and New Year's Day and Saturday will be fairly fine but with high cloud.

In the afternoon of New Year's Day, cooler northeasterlies coming off the water will develop, staying around until Monday.

Ferris said people about the coast may notice a "cooler touch" to the wind.

On New Year's Day Napier and Hastings are forecast to reach 23C, Wairoa 24C and Waipukurau 25C.

On Saturday, Napier should hit 24C, Hastings and Waipukurau 25C and Wairoa 26C.

From Sunday, the weather is set to turn showery with the possibility of thunder and lightning.

Ferris said there is atmospheric instability moving over Hawke's Bay, meaning after a fine morning with high cloud, in the afternoon showers may develop and there is a possibility of thunder and lightning.

These conditions are forecast to continue into Monday, with the day starting off fine and showers from the evening which could get quite heavy and the possibility of thunder as well.

Temperatures these two days will be around the mid 20s in Napier, Hastings, Wairoa and Waipukurau.

Napier weather in review 2020

Only Napier numbers are available due to communication issues with MetService's Hastings and Wairoa stations affecting monthly averages. According to MetService:

• The hottest day in Napier in 2020 was February 2 at 37.4C.

• The coldest morning was both May 22 and July 4 at –1C.

• The coldest maximum temperature was 10.1C on October 15.

• The windiest day was January 31 with gusts of 89km/h.

• The wettest day was November 9, the day of the Napier flooding, with 120.2mm of rain measured at the Napier Airport station. This differs to the 237mm by 10pm reported by Niwa at a different site on the day. Ferris said this shows just how localised the downpour was.

• There were 85 days that had more than 1mm of rain in Napier this year.