'Frosty, settled' weather ahead

2nd June 2009

ROGER MORONEY

Sunday's low snow flurries, which smeared Te Mata Peak and even speckled Napier Hill, were rarities and not portents that the region was in for an Antarctic-like winter.

``It was just a particularly cold southerly,' MetService weather ambassador Bob McDavitt said today.

``The seasonal forecast was for a cool start to winter, but what you'll see for the rest of the week is more frosty, settled weather,' he said.

It did not mean Hawke's Bay was in for a more severe than usual winter.

Which was good news for Napier Hill resident Michelle Bennett, who is not a big fan of winter and whose barefoot dash outdoors on Sunday night left her in no doubt ``it was freezing'.

With camera in hand she had dashed from her Cobden Lane home after hearing what sounded like rain on the roof.

``But it didn't sound right. We looked out and there was white all over the car and the barbecue.'

She and her husband have lived on the hill for 23 years and never experienced snow before.

``We hardly ever get frosts.'

Snow also fell, in more spectacular drifts, on Te Mata Peak on Sunday.

Long-time local resident, 84-year-old Mason Chambers, said he had only seen snow ``half-a-dozen times' on the peak over the past 50 years.

But this was the lowest he had seen it.

``It was quite a good fall ... not enough to ski on though.'

A check of the weather records from May 31 last year underlined that yes, this was a bracing start to this year's winter. On May 31, last year it was 16C and fine, with north-westerlies and a low of 5C. Last Sunday it was 8C, southerlies, and a low of 2.3C.