Weather more of the same for Hawke's Bay as settled week awaits

Overcast conditions for the canoe polo secondary school nationals at the Mitre 10 Park Hawke's Bay in Hastings on Sunday. Photo / Ian Cooper

Hawke's Bay residents can expect plenty more of the same dreary overcast conditions we had over the weekend next week.

MetService meteorologist April Clark said a ridge of high pressure is moving very slowly over New Zealand at the moment, meaning every day is going to look quite similar.

Napier and Hastings are both forecast to have highs of around 20 degrees every day until Friday, when the cloud begins to dissipate and southerly winds die off to boost the highs into the 22-23 range.

This is mirrored around the rest of the region too, with the cloud cover acting as an insulator to keep overnight lows relatively high.

"If you're a sun seeker it's probably not as perfect as possible, but pretty light winds and the southerlies are easing off as we enter the start of next week," Clark said.

She said the cloud, and a few isolated showers to the north, will disappear as the slow-moving high pressure ridge becomes even more dominant.

"It is a bit cool because you've got the southerlies at the moment, but they will eventually ease off as well," Clark said.

Light showers about and north of Wairoa are forecast to clear by Tuesday, with southeasterly winds developing across Hawke's Bay over the following couple of days.

The winds should turn northeasterly on Friday, leading to those higher temperatures.

Earlier this month a few days of rain was the "perfect" amount for farmers still weary from last year's drought, Federated Farmers Hawke's Bay president Jim Galloway said.

"It seems to have been reasonably general. It's been not too heavy and it's soaked in."

He said the region had "dodged the heavy stuff" and the rain would help with grass growth.

"It was green and this follow-up will help grow it. The days are getting shorter and what we're losing out of the ground is getting less."

He said it would be important for farmers to watch out for facial eczema in their stock.