Hawke's Bay braces for another wild weekend of wind

A lone dog walker bracing for wind and rain on Marine Parade, Napier. Photo / Paul Taylor

Hold on to your hats - another wild weekend of wind is bearing down on Hawke's Bay.

MetService has issued strong wind watches for the region as a "significant severe weather event" blows some of New Zealand back to winter.

MetService meteorologist Tom Adams said the storm would strike most of New Zealand over the weekend, bringing severe gales and snow to parts of the country.

"While other parts of the country will see heavy rain and even snow, the thing that is going effect Hawke's Bay is wind," Adams said.

"While the significant weather event is going to affect the South Island on Saturday, it is largely a Sunday event for Hawke's Bay."

A strong wind watch is in place for Hawke's Bay, north of Hastings - starting at 4am on Sunday and ending 1pm the same day.

Areas of Hawke's Bay south of Hastings also have a strong wind watch in place until 10pm on Sunday.

The wind may approach severe gale in exposed places during that time, according to MetService, with potentially hazardous driving conditions for high-sided vehicles and bicycles.

"When you get nor westerlies like this, it is the areas in southern Hawke's Bay that get it the worst," Adams added.

"Sunday will also see some scattered rain. It's likely to be heavy about the ranges, which will clear into the evening."

It won't be cold though - Hastings is forecast to have highs of 22 and 20 degrees of Saturday and Sunday, while Napier will see highs of 23C and 21C.

"Things improve into Monday and Tuesday, but temperatures will start to take a bit of a hit," Adams said.

Into Monday, Napier will see highs of 19C and lows of 7C, while Hastings can expect highs of 17C and lows of 7C.

Temperatures will continue to drop through next week, with a weekly daytime low of 15C on Wednesday in both Napier and Hastings.