Hawke's Bay steals the sunshine for the weekend

Sheep wait in Stortford Lodge yards as the region is dazzled in sunshine for another weekend. Photo / Warren Buckland

It's going to be a bright weekend for Hawke's Bay as it appears the region has stolen the sunshine from the rest of the country.

The MetService is forecasting showers and cloud in western parts of the country over the coming days, making Hawke's Bay one of the best spots to catch the early morning lunar eclipse today. Rugby fans should also experience a fine and dry day for the Hurricanes-Crusaders showdown on Saturday evening.

Sunshine is in store for most of the weekend with some cloud predicted, however day temperatures will remain consistently between 12C and 13C.

The cloud cover will assist chilly residents keeping warm at night as Saturday's overnight low will hover at 7C, but Sunday will be colder with a frosty 3C.

Metservice meteorologist Andrew James says although the weekend will be a sunny one, Hawke's Bay may experience gale-force winds in exposed places.

"It's going to be really nice for the next few days. It will be fine at the weekend with a possible southwest change with showers on Sunday," he said.

"It's been quite showery over the rest of the country especially around the western coasts, but in the east it's been really nice.

"Hawke's Bay has been getting westerlies all week and they may turn to gales over the weekend."

The rest of the country would not be so lucky with thunderstorms, snow and rain predicted.

From today , westerlies would grip the country with several embedded troughs bringing showers to western parts of both islands, but conditions will be mainly fine and dry in the east.

"We are forecasting some heavier falls about Westland and Fiordland where there is a moderate risk of thunderstorms and heavy rain for areas west of the main divide."

The fine weather would carry across most of the weekend and early into next week for Hawke's Bay, but rain would settle in on Tuesday and continue for the rest of the week.