Thunderstorm watch lifted after afternoon of hail, rain and lightning across North Island
After a day of thunderstorms, weather conditions have eased, prompting MetService to lift its weather watches.
The watch had been in place for Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula, Waikato, Waitomo, Taumarunui and Taupō until 8pm, with periodic red severe thunderstorm warnings issued for parts of Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty.
But the weather watch was no longer in place as of 7.35pm, MetService said.
Earlier on Saturday, the bad weather delayed the Auckland FC and Wellington Phoenix fixture at Go Media Stadium, with Herald readers sharing photos of lightning around the stadium.
MetService meteorologist Devlin Lynden said more than 2500 lightning strikes were recorded across the North Island between midday and 6.30pm.
A heavy downpour on the North Shore caused some issues in Wairau Valley, an area that was badly affected by the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods in 2023.
A vape store on Link Drive was prompted to call emergency services after water began streaming in through the building’s roof, flooding a cabinet and damaging stock.
Vector’s crews were responding to a number of power outages in Auckland caused by the weather.
A spokesperson has warned of longer-than-usual restoration times as its teams were already dealing with issues caused by yesterday’s weather.
It cautioned people to stay away from any fallen power lines and report them immediately.
Lynden said the dramatic weather was not entirely unexpected as New Zealand approached summer.
“Given the time of year, you know, we’re approaching summer, things are heating up, thunder, lightning, hail, they’re all sort of more summery weather patterns.
“It’s pretty interesting weather, but it’s not out of the blue.”