A frosty Pukeora Scenic Road southwest of Waipukurau in July 2022, once a state highway link where once 87 years ago it was the wind that carried the day. Photo / NZME
Gusty blasts of the type that made a frugal motorist go to town in Central Hawke's Bay 87 years ago weren't quite being repeated on the anniversary today.
The motorist's wind propulsion on April 24, 1935, was recorded in a tweet from national weather agency MetService, saying: "A driver
of a light car stated he "returned from Pukeora Sanatorium to Waipukurau without using his engine, the wind supplying sufficient motive power. The distance is about three miles and only about one mile is down hill."
Once part of State Highway 2, the road is now a scenic route, near where by early-evening today winds on the nearby Takapau Plains were being recorded up to about 56km/h – higher than the speed limit in Waipukurau but well below the limit on the highway.
There was, however, some stronger wind on the coast, up to 100km/h at Cape Turnagain on the boundary of Hawke's Bay and Wairarapa, and more than 130km/h at Wairarapa coastal landmark Castlepoint. At Cape Kidnappers by early evening winds were barely hitting 50km/h.
While possibly not of the same velocity, winds are on the radar for Hawke's Bay in regional forecasts through the weekend, suggesting weather becoming cloudy on Thursday morning, with occasional rain developing in the afternoon, persistent in the evening, and northerlies "possibly strong about the coast from afternoon."
