Tauranga residents yesterday shivered their way through what was the coldest morning so far this year, and weather experts warned the chilly start could well be the end of the golden weather for now.
By 8.30am yesterday temperatures at Tauranga Airport had only reached 6.9C.
MetService meteorologist Ciaran Doolin said while the 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 and had been a long time coming.
"It's certainly the coldest, given that it has been really warm over the past few months," he said.
Niwa National Climate Centre principal scientist Chris Brandolino said the cooler weather might have come as a shock to some people but it really shouldn't have.