Hawke's Bay cold snap a blip on the weather radar

A sunny garden scene taken the same day as hail and thunder last week. Photo Mary Ellen Warren.

A cold snap in Hawke's Bay over the weekend is likely to have been little more than a blip on the radar as the region looks forward to a fine week.

Napier and Hastings had the hottest temperature in the country before the snap, and a return to warmer temperatures was already on the way by late Sunday afternoon.

The weather had delivered more than 12mm of rain in Napier in the 24 hours to 10am on Sunday, despite MetService Napier weather station Hawke's Bay Airport having New Zealand's highest recorded temperature on Saturday, with a maximum of 23.4deg. Hastings was next with 23.1deg, and Gisborne followed with 20.8deg.

The conditions were ideal for the big horse race of the year in Hawke's Bay, when mare Melody Belle became the first horse to win the triple crown of all three top races at the three-day Hawke's Bay Spring Racing Carnival. It was also ideal for the national mini-motocross championships on Saturday and Sunday at Fernhill, near Hastings.

It preceded rain and a chilly night, with temperatures back on the rise by mid-morning. While the minimum overnight Sunday-Monday was expected to be about 3deg, peak temperatures were forecast to rise to over 20deg each day from Tuesday to the end of the week.

There was also no more rain forecast in Hawke's Bay, from Mahia to Dannevirke, for the rest of the week.

The weather was expected to be ideal for most of the second week of the school holidays, and to provide ideal conditions for Saturday afternoon's big rugby match between Championship leaders Hawke's Bay Magpies and Premiership table-toppers Tasman at McLean Park, Napier.