Frosty mornings give Hawke's Bay winegrowers a few sleepless nights

A recent cold snap gave some Hawke's Bay grape growers sleepless nights but caused no real damage to crops, as the weather warms up later this week.

"With the wine industry as it stands at the moment, they are still very early frosts so a lot of bud burst hasn't really happened for us," Hawke's Bay Wine Growers Association chairman Michael Henley said.

"There was a bit of chardonnay that burst, and there was some frost-fighting being done but at the moment the effect of the cold snap on the wine industry is pretty minimal because the places where it got cold the vines would not have started to burst out yet.

"While there were some people who had some pretty sleepless nights, checking everything, generally, we came through unscathed - although we won't know that until the season starts in proper."

Late October and early November would be the worst time to get frosts, he said.

Frost-fighting near Omaranui Rd on Monday. Photo / Supplied

"By that stage - that's if things start to happen around then - that's when you lose your shoots and you're broke. So at this stage, we probably have another three or four weeks.

"It's still looking pretty good - but we'll keep crossing our fingers."

Although there were some sub-zero temperatures overnight and on Monday morning, the rest of the week is forecast to be warmer.

MetService meteorologist Claire Flynn said over Monday night, temperatures fell to minus 1.1C in Napier city with Hastings getting down to minus 0.6C.

Temperatures yesterday were warmer, getting down to 2.2C at Te Haroto along the Napier-Taupo Rd but cloud would have kept more frost at bay with Napier's overnight low higher at 5.5C.

"The minimum temperatures for Napier for the rest of the week are not especially cold. This morning you are look at 4C, and 6C on Thursday and Friday. It's not looking like we will get any hard frosts this week.

"Clear skies and light winds are the main things [for frosty conditions] because basically the earth radiates heat away to space at night, so if you have cloud, it acts like a blanket and radiates heat back to earth and keeps it warmer."

For the rest of the day, most of the region can expect the clouds to clear to reveal a fine day, with fine weather expected for the rest of the week.

Daytime highs of about 17C are expected today with temperatures expected to hit 21C on Thursday and remain in the high-teens on Friday and into the start of the weekend.