Some places in Bay of Plenty had upwards of 20mm of rain in weekend

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The Bay of Plenty was drenched at the beginning of this weekend with the heavens opening up and letting the rain fall.

According to MetService, on Saturday Rotorua had 48mm of rain, with 15.8mm falling between 12pm and 1pm, and Tauranga had 21.4mm of rain.

MetService meteorologist Thapi Makgabutlane said a low pressure system and its associated fronts brought a lot of rain to the upper and eastern parts of the North Island, and many places - including Rotorua - got bursts of heavier rain.

Makgabutlane said 15.8mm in an hour was indeed considered a lot of rain in a short space of time, and in fact, there were some places in the Bay of Plenty that got upwards of 20mm of rain an hour.

"Downpours like this are possible in a number of weather situations, for example from thunderstorms, or sometimes if a very active front moves across an area, so it all depends on what weather situation is happening.

"The new week still sees showers for the Bay of Plenty area, and this continues into Tuesday.

"However things start to clear early in the day, apart from the eastern ranges of the region, which will still get some rain. Things remain dry for the rest of the week across the region."

In the last 30 days, Rotorua also had 48.4mm of rain on May 29 and Tauranga had 44.6mm of rain on May 29, according to MetService.