It's been October less than a week, but the Bay of Plenty has already seen more rain than the total average for the month in previous years.

Over the weekend, a significant amount of rain hit the region.

This resulted in multiple road closures and delays for motorists from Saturday, October 1 to Monday, October 3.

MetService meteorologist John Law says unsurprisingly, it has been a very wet start to October in the Bay of Plenty.

"Tauranga has reported more rain so far this month than its normal October average," says John.

The average amount of rain for Tauranga in October is 80mm, and the city has already seen 83.8mm this month.

Similarly, Whakatāne has already exceeded its monthly average according to John, with 85mm of rain already hitting the town compared to the 83.9mm October average.

"Rotorua has also exceeded its normal October average too. Rotorua has seen 121.3mm in 2022 compared to the 98.6mm October average."

For the rest of the week, John adds the weather will be drying up, however we will be returning to some chilly winter temperatures as the week progresses.

"The good news is there is some drier weather coming up."

"However, we are set to see the return of some cold temperatures this week. Temperatures will be back down to 3 degrees in Tauranga on Thursday night."