A warm summer is thought to be on the horizon

People out enjoying a sunny day in Rotorua. Photo/Ben Fraser

Rotorua residents should be able to shed the layers for this summer, though it may pay to keep the umbrellas handy.

Niwa principal scientist of forecasting Chris Brandolino said looking ahead for summer he thought, with pretty high confidence, the Rotorua temperature was going to be above average for the next three months.

However, he said Niwa was expecting rainfall to be above normal. He said this rainfall might start off slow.

"I wouldn't be surprised if the summer season started off dry and the second half got wetter."

He said there may be more humid days than normal due to more east to northeast winds.

The typical mean temperature for Rotorua's summer - December to February - was 17.3C, he said.

MetService meteorologist Tom Bell said the next few weeks should be a bit drier and warmer than average.

The highest temperature recorded at Rotorua Airport in November was 23C on the 23rd, and the total rainfall for November was 54.6mm.

In October there was 94.4mm of rainfall and the mean temperature was 12C, while in September there was 134.4mm of rain and the mean temperature was 10.4C.

At his Springfield weather station, figures from Rotorua weatherman Brian Holden showed the maximum temperature for November was 26.3C on the 23rd and the minimum temperature was 3.5C on the 7th.

The mean temperature recorded was 14.7C.

The day recorded as having the highest rainfall was November 4.

Rotorua's temperature normal for November is 14.5C and the rainfall normal for November is 90mm.