Bay of Plenty residents may want to think about chopping some firewood or wheeling out the heater this week, as cooler temperatures arrive.

MetService meteorologist John Law says it will be an unsettled week for most of the country, although the worst of the wet weather should be on the other side of the Kaimai Range or in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

'The temperatures will be a fair bit cooler by the end of the week, mainly due to the southerly air stream coming up at the moment. By Friday the high could be as low as 15 degrees during the day, and seven degrees at night.”

He says a combination of lower air temperatures with strong westerlies will make it feel colder.

'There will also be showers and longer spells of rain pretty much every day, with Wednesday likely to be the wettest.

'Essentially it will be noticeably cooler than the start of May, and even the start of this week.”