MetService has issued a severe weather watch for northern parts of Hawke's Bay as cold southerly weather systems arrive to replace the more temperate northerly systems which had kept the harsh side of winter at bay since the start of June.
A low pressure system is expected to cross the upper
North Island today and tomorrow, with heavy rain forecast for areas of the Bay from tonight.
Forecaster Ian Miller said the Bay, and Gisborne, were in for spells of heavy rain through until Wednesday night, with conditions expected to ease to showers on Thursday.
What would not ease however was the temperature, with the southeast airstream bringing daytime highs of around just 10C for the next three days.
The weather system is also forecast to bring snow down to 1200m on the central North Island ranges.
While the rains were not expected to create warning alerts they could have the potential to cause streams and rivers to rise quickly in some areas.
Showers and light winds, with temperatures around the 12C mark were forecast for the weekend at this stage, with the sun set to reappear, along with a balmy 14C, next Monday.
