Hawke’s Bay’s not 30C, but it is going to get better

A sign of things to come - Central Hawke's Bay early on Boxing Day as the weather starts to settle after days, and days, of sudden forecasts of thunderstorms and lightning spoiling Hawke's Bay's reputation for sunny summer holidays. Photo / Paul Taylor

Visitors to Hawke’s Bay for the Christmas and New Year holiday period may finally get to see the region live up to some of its climate reputation with rain now all-but off the radar.

But don’t expect any of the typical Hawke’s Bay summer scorchers any time soon, in a month which usually has at least 1 day over 30deg, with a record of 37.5deg on December 29, 1994.

By midday Boxing Day, the temperature in Napier-Hastings hadn’t been over 25deg this summer and Friday was looming as the hottest day with a maximum temperature forecast of 27deg expected at Hawke’s Bay Airport and elsewhere in the Napier-Hastings area - over 4deg below last December’s peak of 31.7deg.

It’s at the airport that the average maximum December temperature is 21.7deg, but this month there have been 16 days below the average, and there have been 18 days on which more than 0.1mm of rain has been recorded, more than twice the average of 7 rain days for December.

With 0.2mm of rain recorded early Monday, it was the 13th day in the last 15 that rain had been recorded, hitting a peak of 23.8mm on Friday, helping take the rainfall for the month to 117mm, well short of the December record of 254.9mm in 1980, but more than double the December average of 51mm.

But then it has been wet all year, with over 1300mm of rain at the airport in 2022, compared with the average of about 800mm, and rainfall throughout Hawke’s Bay above average.

MetService meteorologist April Clark said the weather could be expected to start settling, after regular days of sudden late-afternoon thunder and lightning forecasts.

“Nothing too extreme,” she said, “and still good for a few days at the beach.”