Sheep near Ōtāne take shelter ahead of a thunderstorm watch in place for parts of Hawke's Bay on Friday afternoon. Photo / Paul Taylor
Sheep near Ōtāne take shelter ahead of a thunderstorm watch in place for parts of Hawke's Bay on Friday afternoon. Photo / Paul Taylor
The region's ranges felt the full force of thunderstorm activity on Friday, following a severe thunderstorm watch for the region late in the day.
Meteorologist John Crouch said Central Hawke's Bay - Waipukurau and Waipawa - in particular, were also impacted.
The Kaweka Range also saw major thunderstorm activity, he said.
"There was quite a bit of heavy rain and hail in the ranges."
He estimated about 20 to 30mm of rain had fallen in the span of a couple of hours, between 3 and 5pm, in Waipukurau and Waipawa and said thunderstorms were late Friday expected to remain active there.
MetService meteorologist Dan Corrigan previously said thunderstorms were often associated with hail.
MetService has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for parts of Hawke's Bay from 3pm on Friday. Photo / MetService
These thunderstorms may produce localised downpours of 25 to 35mm per hour which can cause surface and flash flooding, especially about low-lying areas such as streams, rivers or narrow valleys, and may also lead to slips.
Heading into the weekend, Saturday looked to be the better day with fine weather set to continue, he said.
"There's a bit of cloud in the evening but it's not a huge day. It will be cloudy with rain on and off on Sunday." Wairoa would be the warmest across the region with highs of 25C expected for both Saturday and Sunday.
Napier and Hastings would share highs of 23C over both days, while Waipukurau would drop from 24C on Saturday to 23C on Sunday.
Napier City Council has warned, with weather changing from severe storm warnings to a heatwave in a few short weeks, it was important to be mindful of water use.
Water operations team leader Phil Green monitors water production and use daily with water restrictions kicking in as soon as daily demand reaches 70 per cent of available water production (about 44 million litres) for seven days in a row.
Napier often records one of the highest water use levels in the country, with winter water use doubling in summer.
"Conserving water all year round is the best way to make sure we don't have to get strict with restrictions," he said.
Suggestions for water conservation include shorter showers, shallower baths, turning off taps when brushing teeth, using handheld sprinklers, twilight watering, fixing leaks, mulching plants and even considering water use when choosing which plants to put in the garden.
The annual water conservation campaign Saving H2O Is The Way To Go – a collaboration between Napier, Hastings District, Central Hawke's Bay and Hawke's Bay Regional councils - will begin soon. The campaign shares useful tips showing how small actions can be very effective in saving water.
During the longest partial lunar eclipse fully visible from New Zealand in more than 800 years, the moon will return partially red. Photo / Michael Craig
Blood micro-moon
Corrigan also said Hawke's Bay would have been a fantastic place to see Friday night's blood micro-moon.
"Hawke's Bay is in the better part of the country for seeing it."
The longest partial lunar eclipse in more than 800 years was expected to be fully visible from New Zealand. The moon's face will be 97 per cent covered by the deepest part of the Earth's shadow, briefly turning the lunar surface red.
The near-total eclipse will take place over three hours and 28 minutes in our night sky - making it the longest partial lunar eclipse in Aotearoa since the year 1212.
Weather permitting, sky gazers could have seen the near-total eclipse begin very soon after moonrise around 8pm.
