Warmer weather ahead for Hawke's Bay

Bradley Woon's dog Mila kept her cool with a sunhat while watching him play softball on Saturday. She'll need it this week with temperatures forecast to 30 C. Photo / Duncan Brown

There will be no quiet dawn south of Hastings says MetService meteorologist Ciaran Doolan, with winds possibly gusting to 100km/h in exposed places overnight.

He said dawns were usually calm because air near the Earth's surface cooled, which encouraged higher air to stay up. The inversion acts like a lid, keeping at bay normal convective movement of the atmosphere from sun-warmed Earth.

Last night was an exception because of a strong front pushing up from the South Island "so it strengthens the pressure gradient ahead of it, which is what is what is forcing the winds overnight to continue to be quite strong".

The westerly winds will gradually ease and today's weather will be fine for Hawke's Bay with high cloud. The day's high will be 28C thanks to clear skies and winds warming as they travel overland.

Tuesday will be mainly fine with light winds in the morning and sea breezes developing in the afternoon.

The region's temperatures will be about 29 C.

Temperatures will hit 30C inland on Wednesday, which is forecast to be mainly fine with sea breezes.

Thursday brings mainly fine weather and warmer weather, with Hastings predicted to go to 32C and Napier 31C with strengthening northwesterly winds.

"There is another front coming on to the South Island on Wednesday and that is going to strengthen the pressure gradient, particularly over the South Island but also over the lower North Island as well, picking the winds up," he said.

He said the front would bring scattered rain and cloudy periods for Friday.

He said the front will go through slowly and probably be clear by Friday night, but that was no guarantee for a fine weekend.

"Saturday may be clear, but that depends on how quick that feature moves up the country."