File photo. Photo: 123RF
A squally cocktail of rain, hail, wind and thunderstorms has moved across the upper South Island, Taranaki, Waikato and Auckland in a stormy night.
It sparked warnings from Auckland Emergency Management for people to stay inside and secure loose furniture.
MetService duty forecaster Katie Hillyer told Morning Report on Monday there were more than 2500 lightning strikes recorded overnight.
"Most of those lightning strikes were seen sort of Waikato through down to Taranaki, but those rain bands were over Auckland down through the, the top of the South Island as well. Many of those lightning strikes would have been out over the ocean as well, so if you're someone that lives near the coast, you could have seen a nice light show out there as well."
There had been no reports of damage from any thunderstorms.
Hillyer said as we headed into winter, there would be "a lot more of these rain bands moving through" after a dry summer.
"Particularly over the next two days we're looking quite active, especially for those on our west coast. So we encourage those people to keep an eye on the forecast.
"But the good news is that sort of towards the middle and the end of the week, things are beginning to look a little bit more settled as we get a ridge of high pressure moving in."
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