Temperatures to get warmer in time for school holidays in Tauranga

Tauranga's cooler temperatures will not remain long term. Photo/Andrew Warner

Tauranga will likely see cold snaps for the next few weeks - but temperatures are expected to warm up by the end of the month.

Tauranga residents were warned that temperatures could drop to 6C overnight, marking what WeatherWatch described as the beginning of the cold snap.

WeatherWatch head weather analyst Philip Duncan said the wild weather - including a severe thunderstorm watch for the Bay of Plenty - was expected to strike Tauranga mid-afternoon yesterday, easing up overnight.

"It's the first major cold snap," Duncan said.

However, the cooler temperatures are not expected to stick around.

Niwa's principal scientist - forecasting Chris Brandolino said there would be a couple of cold snaps in Tauranga over the next few days, which would likely be the coldest of the month, but he believed temperatures would warm up in time for the school holidays.

He said there would still be cold snaps in the next few weeks, but not of the "same sharpness".

Brandolino said the change in weather was attributed to the time of year as well as the air "coming from a cold place".

"Towards the end of the week the air flow will change where it's coming from so it won't be so cold.

"A lot of it is air flow."

Brandolino said even though conditions were starting to get cooler, water temperatures were still warmer than normal for this time of year, which means Tauranga and coastal areas such as Whakatane and Opotiki would be warmer than those inland such as Rotorua.

According to MetService, Tauranga was likely to see plenty of rain in the next 10 days.

The only dry day predicted for Tauranga between now and next Thursday was Sunday, with temperatures likely to be between 8C and 19C. From Monday, the overnight temperature would drop to 10C, warming up to 14C by Wednesday and Thursday.