Rain, hail and hay fever
The region’s mercurial start to summer continues today with yesterday’s rain and hailstorms replaced with southerlies that will keep the region’s temperatures to about 20C.
Hail struck a few areas yesterday with a brief but heavy hailstorm particularly noted in Havelock North about 1pm.
Today’s conditions will consist of cloudy periods with a change of showers before fining up in the afternoon.
However, it’s a much better outlook for the weekend with sunny skies and southerlies dying out. Tomorrow it will be fine and on Sunday there will be light winds and a high of 22C in Napier and 25C for Hastings.
Meanwhile it’s bad news for those who suffer from hay fever, with the MetService website’s pollen count showing the count is expected to be high.
The full pollen season in New Zealand is approximately 34 weeks long and varies in its timings each year.
It begins in July or August with the Pinus season and continues into August/September with deciduous trees like oaks, elm, birches and other deciduous trees.
The major pollen hazard for people at present is from grass, olive trees, privets and plantain.
The Doctors Hastings medial centre manager, Neville Saunders, said: “I polled some of our GP team on the floor in between their appointments this afternoon and they advise there has definitely been an increased prevalence of clients presenting with hay fever.”