Strong wind watch for start of school holidays in Hawke’s Bay

Aaron Hamilton, CEO of Hawke's Bay Racing, using a leaf blower to clear up ahead of the Hawke's Bay Hunt Race Day on Saturday. Photo / Paul Taylor

Hawke’s Bay’s school holidays will open with a blast of wind.

MetService issued a strong wind watch for the region south of Hastings and the Tararua District on Friday, for nine hours from 8pm Saturday to 5am Sunday.

It warned of westerly winds that may approach severe gales at times.

MetService meteorologist David Miller said wind gusts between 100 and 110 kilometres per hour were expected.

“There is the potential for that watch to be upgraded to a warning - warnings are when wind gusts are expected to be greater than 110 kilometres per hour,” Miller said.

He said the wind was not likely to be particularly hot or cold for the parts of Hawke’s Bay it hit, as overall temperatures in the region hovered around averages for this time of year.

“It is just likely to be quite gusty, westerly wind coming off the ranges.”

He said Napier and Hastings can expect daily temperature highs around 15 or 16C consistently for Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Overnight temperatures for the same period for Napier and Hastings were expected to be about 4C or 5C.

“Overall the east of the North Island, apart from the wind, is not doing too bad. There might be the odd shower coming across the ranges in the west from time to time but it is going to be the wind that people see.”

Tararua may have greater cloud cover, with Dannevirke sitting at a noticeably cooler 10C to 11C during the day and slightly warmer 5C to 7C overnight.

Winds between 100 and 110 kilometres per hour are expected to hit south of Hastings. Photo / Paul Taylor

The strong winds will hopefully hold off in time for some weekend sport and local events. On Friday the Hawke’s Bay Racing Centre was prepping to host the AHD Hawke’s Bay Hunt Race Day on Saturday, with 10 races starting from 11am and featuring steeplechase, hurdles and flat racing.

Aaron Hamilton, CEO of Hawke’s Bay Racing, welcomed the drier weather for the event.

“Hopefully the rain will hold off tomorrow and the wind is not too bad,” Hamilton said.

“They’ve done a good job to get the track ready to race tomorrow and I am looking forward to it, should be good.”

Niwa has warned of the influence of El Niño on weather patterns in New Zealand for the next three months.

Forecaster Ben Noll said fewer easterly flows reduced the odds of more plumes of subtropical moisture, which meant normal rainfall levels for the East Coast from July to October.