As the saying goes, 'red sky in the morning, shepherds warning', and nothing could have been truer in Tauranga this morning.

As the sun rose over the Bay, the sky turned red and was captured on camera by our SunLive readers. Check out the stunning images below.

This morning's beautiful weather is expected to be short lived as heavy rain is expected to hit the Western Bay later today.

A severe weather watch is in place for the region.

The below images were taken by a reader walking down Dive Crescent this morning.

The last two images were sent in by Tracey Donovan of the sunrise in Plummers Point.

These photos were snapped by Jenny Lucey at Aongatete.