Bay of Plenty weather: Warmer May than usual, but will it continue?

It has been the summer that never ends in Bay of Plenty, with higher temperatures and less rainfall than is usual for May. But make no mistake, winter is coming.

MetService communications meteorologist Lewis Ferris said the average high temperature in Rotorua for May was 15C.

"Every day so far this May has been above that with 20.2C recorded [on Monday] the warmest," he said.

Tauranga's May average is usually 18C. This May, one day has been below that, at 16.4C, with 21.7C recorded on Monday.

Whakatāne's May average is also 18C. Ferris said "a few days" were below that with 16.9C being the lowest. The hottest day in Whakatāne so far this month was 20.9C on May 7.

"So in short it has generally been warmer than average," Ferris said, "especially in the mornings, with overnight temps 8C to 10C above average."

May has also been much drier than usual, Ferris said.

Rotorua usually averages about 150mm of rain in May. During the first 10 days this month, there has been just 9.2mm.

Tauranga also averages about 150mm of rain in May but has had just 3.8mm in the first 10 days.

Whakatāne averages about 110mm and in the first 10 days had 6.8mm.

"So it's very much drier than the usual average," Ferris said.

However, colder, wetter weather is on the horizon.

"The cold change is on its way, currently zipping up the South Island. It isn't due into Bay of Plenty until Wednesday afternoon," he said.

"This drops the temperature to below-average through into the weekend. This brings wet weather which is semi-persistent on Wednesday, clears throughout Thursday but more is on the way over the weekend.

"Things look to run drier than average next week with temperatures about normal."