Chilly mornings, rain and coastal swells have made an appearance in Hawke’s Bay as winter rears its head.

“From about Tuesday onwards, you might notice it will get a little chillier overnight as we’ll have a high-pressure system sitting over the country,” MetService meteorologist Clare O’Connor said today.

“That’ll hopefully clear the skies up, but clear skies do mean cooler and colder mornings with the possible potential of frost later in the week.”

O’Connor said the main chances of rain for the region would be on Sunday and Monday with the potential for showers on Tuesday. A reprieve would likely come later in the week.

 “As we move further into the week, we’ve got the high pressure moving over us, which will make things a little more settled.”

There was some heavy rainfall on Sunday east of Wairoa and a heavy rain watch was in place for 10 hours from 8am to 6pm.

“We’ve had some heavy falls around the Mahia Peninsula this morning,” O’Connor said on Sunday morning.

“They’ve had about 19mm in the last six hours since 5am and about 7.5mm of rain in the hour from 6am to 7am.”

Portland Island also received a gale warning from MetService on Sunday and Hawke’s Bay’s recreational marine forecast gave a strong wind advisory for the day.

Monday will bring windspeeds of 35 knots; speeds for the rest of the week will fluctuate between 15 and 25 knots.

Despite the cautions, several surfers and bodyboarders were spotted on Sunday taking full advantage of the large swells off the Ngaruroro River mouth.

Surfers took the opportunity to surf the swells at the Ngaruroro River mouth on Sunday. Photo / Ian Cooper