As forecast by WeatherWatch.co.nz temperatures have surged up towards 30 degrees late this April afternoon in northern Hawke’s Bay and Wednesday may be even hotter.

WeatherWatch.co.nz says temperatures have broken the 30 degree mark at a number of weather stations this afternoon around Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne with the majority in the mid to late 20s Celsius but some up to 32.

The heat has been caused by warm nor’westers and sunny skies and continued up until the 5pm hour with the sun setting in Napier shortly at 6:02pm.

Wairoa, which today hit 30 degrees, is forecast to again reach the late 20s on Wednesday. In theory 30 degrees is possible inland in Northern Hawke’s Bay. Further south around Napier and Hastings and Wednesday looks hotter than today was with highs in the late 20s expected. Napier’s Wednesday high, near the coast, is 27. It’s also warmer than average in other parts of New Zealand including Southland where it was up to 21 degrees at 5pm today – just 90 minutes shy of sunset. The average high for Invercargill in April is 15 degrees.

Head forecaster Philip Duncan says 30 degree highs in April do sometimes occur, usually with a nor’west set up for places in the east like this week, but he does point out we’re now on the wrong side of summer for summer-like temperatures. “The equinox was two weeks ago and that was the point when days and nights were roughly equal, the nights are now longer than the days so summer temperatures should be less likely to occur”.

29.6°C at 3.30pm I guess I am going to have to eat humble pie huh…lol https://t.co/zywtOQnByO

— Wairoa.net (@Wairoa_net) April 3, 2018

In the coming week temperatures will continue to seesaw with Hawke’s Bay dropping by up to 10 degrees in the daytime highs on some days (for example this Sunday compared to today/this Wednesday). 

But it’s Southland, Otago and Alpine areas of both islands in for a more real wake up call this coming weekend and early next week if the latest data pans out. Our forecasts for temperatures show daytime highs this weekend in the far south may be just 10 to 13 degrees at the warmest point of the day. However next Tuesday the latest WeatherWatch.co.nz forecasts show highs of only 8 to 11 degrees across Dunedin, Queenstown and Invercargill. 

5pm Tuesday (click for live version):

– WeatherWatch.co.nz Exclusive