Christmas Day in the Bay of Plenty was looking sunny and warm. Photo / File
The Bay of Plenty is expected to be a good region to spend this Christmas in with hot temperatures and sunny weather predicted.
New Year's eve in the region was also "looking promising", with similar fine conditions forecast.
MetService meteorologist Peter Little said the Bay was shaping up to be "one of the better places to be" with a southwesterly flow expected to offer "shelter from rain and showers".
"It's looking like a nice, fine Christmas Day."
The flow may provide a small breeze, however, and he said people may need to "pop a rock on the pile of serviettes" if they planned to feast outside.
Boxing Day and the 27th could see wind, showers and a slight temperature drop but the forecast leading up to New Year's Eve was looking similar to Christmas, he said.
Forecast modelling was not totally reliable this far out from the New Year period and "things can often change" as "systems move faster or slower". However, it was "looking pretty good" with fine, dry weather, he said.
"It's looking promising."
Little warned people to take particular care to protect themselves from the sun, which now that summer solstice had now passed was at a particularly dangerous angle with strong UV rays.
However, the sunny weather would not be all good news for Western Bay of Plenty residents, who were on water use alert as levels reached "alarming rates".
The Western Bay of Plenty District Council yesterday raised its water warnings to high, with restrictions possibly coming into effect by Christmas Day.
The council's utilities manager Kelvin Hill said water use had increased by 30 per cent in the last 10 days and this was putting immense strain on reservoir capacity.
Despite this, Rotorua and Tauranga events were hopeful for hot, fine weather.
The Good Vibes Summer Festival was taking place at Rotorua's Village Green on December 27, with director of 116 Group, Mitch Lowe, saying good weather would make the entire event.
They were expecting between 3000 and 4000 people to come down and tickets were selling well, he said.
The Special New Year's eve iteration of the Rotorua Night Market was set to run on December 31 and would go as late as 10pm, with entertainment and activities planned.
A Rotorua Lakes Council spokeswoman said the market would be weather-dependent as per normal and people should keep an eye on the market Facebook page in the event of bad weather.
Meanwhile, Tauranga's various New Year's Eve celebrations would only be cancelled if there was "particularly bad" weather, a Tauranga City Council spokeswoman said.
She said it was not looking like rain would be forecast but they would let the public know via social media if there were any changes.
Fireworks displays would need to be cancelled if wind or rain were severe but this would be decided on the day, she said.
The council's general manager of community services, Gareth Wallis, said this year it was "more important than ever to give people an opportunity to come together".
"We hold these events to give people an opportunity to meet up with friends, family and neighbours to celebrate in a community-minded, family-friendly environment. No matter where you live in the city there's an event happening near you."
The man has been charged with being an accessory after the fact to manslaughter.
