Napier is expecting a possible highest August temperature for the last half century as the West Coast, the Nelson region and the Far North battle some of their heaviest rain.
The temperature at Hawke's Bay Airport reached 19.9deg on Friday afternoon, meteorologist Angus Hines, of national weather agency MetService said if temperatures reached forecast peaks of 22 during the station's highest August temperature in statistics dating back to 1973 - 21.9deg in 2016 – would be surpassed.
Napier's average peaks for August are 14-15deg, but last year peaks late in the month were 2-3deg higher. Hines said warmer temperatures are part of the general pattern bringing the more severe weather to other parts of the country, where on Friday afternoon heavy to severe rain warnings remained in place for the West and Tasman coasts of the South Island, the Tararua Range, North Taranaki and Northland.
But there were none for Hawke's Bay, where there had been isolated pockets of heavy rain in recent days but generally minimal recordings, meaning rainfall in many areas is now below annual January-August averages, despite flooding in February and March, which particularly devastated much of the Wairoa District.
Warmer air had been "pushed down" from the north but thanks to the protection from the ranges Hawke's Bay was not getting the extremes of the rain, the forecaster said.
