A small number of rural homes west of Napier were without power late yesterday as the school holidays got off to an ominous start with a severe gale warning.
But it barely lived up to the hype, Unison Network spokesman Danny Gough saying last night it didn't seem to have been as severe as forecast, although crew were on standby and had been working to restore supply as soon as possible.
The most significant outage cut supply to 19 customers in the Te Haroto area off State Highway 5 between Napier and Hastings, while there were thought to have been other isolated cuts in higher areas exposed to the winds.
Coming at the end of a mainly fine but chilly weekend in Hawlke's Bay, the gusts preceded what was expectedto be a damp first few days of the two-week-long schools break.
Cloudy weather was expected over much of the region today, with rain about the ranges, heavy at times, with scattered falls further east. Northerlies, with gusts up to 100km in exposed places, were also expected before finer weather on Wednesday.
MetService meteorologist April Clark said a strong unsettled west to southwest flow will affect the country until about Thursday, with several fronts moving rapidly across the country.
"In the early part of this week, that flow will turn more southwest behind the front," she said. A southwest flow means temperatures will plummet, but temperatures would still be average for July in Hawke's Bay.
"After about Wednesday, we are expecting more cloud-free skies and those winds to ease off and generally settled weather for not just Hawke's Bay but a lot of the country as well."
Severe weather watches and warnings were yesterday in place over a large portion of the rest of New Zealand country.
Unsettled weather was forecast to continue into early next week with showery southwest winds bringing cooler temperatures snow down to 600m over the lower South Island."
Wet and windy start to the week expected in Hawke's Bay
Ominous clouds hover over the ranges. Photo/Duncan Brown.
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