Hawke’s Bay weather set to improve after gloomy start to Easter weekend

Fishermen make the most out of the weather gaps in Napier on Sunday. Photo / Paul Taylor

While the worst of the rain managed to hold off for Easter weekend, grey skies, drizzle and cold temperatures were still very apparent in Hawke’s Bay.

But according to MetService, the latter end of the holiday and the rest of the week is set to bring much better weather.

Meteorologist Karl Loots said that while there would still be a couple of brief showers and rainfall around the region, the bulk of the heavy rain had eased as of Sunday morning and improved weather was on the way.

“For much of Hawke’s Bay, the heavy rain was confined to the northern parts of the region. Mainly in the Wairoa district.”

He said the Wairoa district recorded between 40 and 50 millimetres of rain during a 24-hour period, but any further rain to come through Hawke’s Bay was less likely to be heavy and would be brief.

All heavy rain had since eased, with previous warnings and watches for Hawke’s Bay lifted.

Tuesday would be partly cloudy, with a few showers developing in the afternoon. Wednesday and Thursday would be fine with light winds.

Loots also said there had “been a bit of a shift to slightly cooler weather”, but confirmed that by Tuesday, “it’s going to be back to the mid-20s”.

Last month saw the first snowfall for 2023 arrive in Hawke’s Bay, dusting the Kaweka and Ruahine ranges. Low temperatures of 7C were also reported in Napier and Hastings near the end of March.