A COASTAL soaking on Friday offered one of winter's last gasps in the Hunter, with parts of the Hunter predicted to reach 30 degrees as soon as Thursday.
Sunday marks the calendar start of spring as well as Father's Day, and it is also expected to offer a farewell to cloudy skies in the region.
The weekend, though, offers little relief.
The Bureau of Meteorology was on Friday forecasting an 80 per cent chance of showers in Newcastle for Saturday, mostly in the morning.
There was also a chance of a thunderstorm in the late morning, while south to southeasterly winds are expected to push through at between 24 and 35km/h before dropping slightly.
For those craving warmer days, next week may be worth the wait.
Newcastle is forecast to hit a maximum temperature of 27 degrees on Thursday while the mercury in Singleton is forecast to soar to 30 degrees.
Muswellbrook and Scone will reach 29 degrees on Wednesday and stay there for at least another day, the forecast indicates.
Showers that doused the city on Friday are expected to dissipate on Saturday, with sunshine to dominate most of the coming week.
Clear skies are forecast from Monday until Thursday apart from some cloud on Tuesday in Port Stephens.
Coastal rain between 9am and 1pm on Friday delivered 29 millimetres at Gosford and 33mm at Mangrove Mountain. Nobbys recorded 13.4mm while Williamtown notched 16.2mm.
