A windy landmark at the southernmost point of Hawke's Bay is already a challenger for strongest gust of the year after a blow of 196km/h on Sunday.
The blast was recorded late in the afternoon at Cape Turnagain, 33km south of Porangahau, and was reported with some incredulity on Monday by a MetService duty meteorologist, saying, before converting the reading from 106 knots to kilometres-per-hour and confirming the accuracy:
"That's ridiculous ... I'll check that one."
![Cape Turnagain, where a wind gust on Sunday hit close to 200km/h.](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/DN37A4MJOWH7UTNRRRJAA5OJ6U.jpg?auth=5f99f1e5d6d7d17a90859ce80cf2b086c26a5f27124516e5a060a3ab53a97e75&width=16&height=12&quality=70&smart=true)
But such winds are not unusual for Cape Turnagain, so-named by Captain James Cook who as he voyaged down the coast from the newly-named Hawke Bay on October 17, 1769, decided, partly because of atrocious conditions, that there was no point in continuing south and turned around.