“It [Saturday] will definitely be one of the coldest nights this year, especially since you have had such a warm start to the year, it will be noticeable in comparison to that.”
Wednesday temperatures were expected to reach up to 28C for Napier and Hastings, but weekend highs were expected to drop sharply.
“As we hit the weekend, things cool down. We have this cooler air moving up from the south of the nation and that will be most noticeable in Hawke’s Bay overnight into Saturday into the weekend,” O’Connor said.
“Into Sunday, overnight temperatures are potentially six or seven degrees, and a high of Saturday of about 18 degrees, so about 10 less than what you see on Wednesday.”
She said temperatures on Sunday will remain colder, with highs of about 22 C, but they would be average for this time of year.
“The overnight temperature will be about 8 C around the area, slightly below your average of 12 C,” she said.
Temperatures would not significantly vary between centres like Napier, Hastings and Wairoa.
The region may see some rainfall on Friday morning, moving in from the west, and showers that would continue into Saturday morning, but no further rain was expected.
“There might be a little bit of sheltering because we are expecting most rainfall to be over the west of the North Island but some will get over to you on the east.”