Tauranga shivers into coldest morning of the year

If you struggled with the cold this morning today you're not alone - Tauranga has shivered into the coldest morning of the year so far.

By 8.30am, temperatures at Tauranga Airport had only reached 6.9C.

Metservice meterologist Ciaran Doolin said while this morning's chill factor was no record breaker, Tauranga once reached an overnight low of 1.9C in 1994, it was the coolest temperature of the year.

''It's certainly the coldest, given that it has been really warm over the past few months,'' he said.

''There are a couple of nights in April that got into the single digits but nothing like today.''

Temperatures are expected to warm to 15C today, with a few showers forecast.

Rain with a chance of thunder is expected in Tauranga tomorrow.