A spell of rain in Hawke's Bay last night aided those fighting a large forest fire in Tangoio.

A fire service spokesperson said "it was a decent downpour. It definitely would've had a good impact".

The 350 hectare fire is now fully contained but not yet extinguished.

Forecast weather conditions are favourable for the fire but smoke will remain in the air over the next few days, Hawke's Bay Civil Defence said.

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The rain started about 11pm last night with light showers continuing for five hours. There was 2.4mm of rain recorded at the Hawke's Bay Airport site.

Temperatures overnight dropped to around 10 degrees Celsius in Napier and 11C in Hastings.

The wet weather has now stopped, moving north east away from the region.

The many events scheduled in Hawke's Bay this weekend will avoid the rain with fine weather ahead.

Friday and Saturday are set to be fine with light winds and sea breezes.

Temperatures on Friday are forecast to reach 25C in Napier, 26C in Hastings and 24C in Wairoa.

Saturday is set to heat up Hawke's Bay summer highs of around 28C, with Sunday temperatures potentially hitting 30C.