Rain on the way but unlikely to end Hawke's Bay's 'Big Dry'

Cooler temperatures may be upon us but rain is still needed to relieve dry soil. Photo / Paul Taylor

As autumn begins, expect cooler temperatures and some rain later on this week.

But don't expect it to end what has become known as "the big dry".

A Metservice spokeswoman said it was a "mixed bag" of weather this week for what was considered to be the meteorological start of autumn.

After a dry summer, rain will reach the region on Wednesday, along with southerly winds that are going to bring cloud as well.

Rain and showers will be scattered throughout the region although the temperatures remain summery with a high of 26C in Napier and Hastings and 25C in Wairoa.

Most of the rain will be up in the ranges but as a broad estimate, Metservice predicts up to 10mm could be expected on the land.

However, it was too far off to know for sure and that was an "optimistic" number the spokeswoman said.

As a broad estimate around 5mm of rain can be expected in the ranges on Friday and "much less if anything measurable" is expected inland at this stage.

There has been minimal rain throughout the region this summer resulting in a 30-50 mm soil moisture deficit throughout the region.

This is considered drier than normal on the Niwa soil moisture anomaly chart.

A Central Hawke's Bay weather report showed the only rain in the past 10 days was 2.4mm on February 23.

In Napier, in the past 30 days there was 2.8mm of rain on February 22 and 0.8mm on the 23rd.

On February 22 in Hastings, there was 9.2mm of rain and 0.2mm on the 23rd.

There was trace amounts of rain in the region on Saturday night and early Sunday morning, but less than 1mm combined said the spokeswoman.

On Friday, expect showers throughout the region and temperatures to sit around 19C.

The beginning of the week starts off fine with slight cloud and temperatures in the low 20s throughout the region on Monday.

On Tuesday, summer briefly returns with highs of 28C in Napier and Wairoa and 29C in Hastings.

The day will be fine with slight northerly winds.

As the rain passes through cooler autumnal temperatures will reach the region on Thursday bringing temperatures in the late teens early 20s for the remainder of the week.

The warmer temperatures were average for this time of year while the cooler temperatures brought in by the rain later in the week were slightly below average, the spokeswoman said.

As temperatures cool off and cloud sets in, the UV level remains high at the dangerous level of six throughout the day and sun protection is still needed.