Private operator Weatherwatch was saying today temperatures above late-September average could yield to a weather "bomb" and a wintry change for parts of the country late in the weekend and early next week.
Northern Hawke's Bay is looking for rain, a grass and scrub fire on the Mahia Peninsula last week having been a warning in a month highlighting low rainfall in the area this year.
According to daily figures published by Hawke's Bay Today, rainfall at Mahia this year
totals less than 640mm, just under two-thirds of the annual average to late September.
There had been 56.2mm of rain this month, compared an average of about 112mm for the first three weeks of the month.
Rainfall in the Napier-Hastings area remained below average.
MetService meteorologist Tom Adams said there is "classic Spring weather pattern" consisting of high pressure over the upper North Island and strong westerlies further south.
"Interspersed in those westerlies are frequent fronts that bring dynamic and changeable weather," he said.
