Hawke’s Bay is holding its breath with the rest of the North Island as meteorologists watch a tropical cyclone forming in the Coral Sea, uncertain where exactly it will hit worst.
But in the meantime it’s more or less ‘normal transmission has resumed’, with Hastings posting Wednesday’s hottest temperature nationwide - 29.5deg about 5pm, with inner-city Napier at 29.4deg.
It was a week which saw the first temperatures over 30deg in a year which has so far included record-breaking January rainfalls and above-average rainfall in the region for six months in a row.
Late on Wednesday, Metservice was still forecasting mainly fine weather for Hawke’s Bay for at least four days before likely rain early next week.
The high came in a week where MetService stations on Monday posted Hawke’s Bay’s first temperatures over 30deg in a year.