Heavy rain is tonight moving into Bay of Plenty with most centres likely to receive a downpour says WeatherWatch.co.nz.

An area of rain and heavy showers is moving into the region with the large showers in the west and the main rain band in the east.

Most centres should have a solid downpour tonight and motorists are advised to drive with care due to sudden heavy downpours and flashes of lightning.

The risk of further tornado development is considered “very low” by WeatherWatch.co.nz.

The lightning tracker at WeatherWatch.co.nz has rocketed in detecting lightning strikes this evening with 670 detected in the past hour bringing today’s total to almost 5000 so far.

View the live and free Lightning Tracker now – click here to open

Lightning is expected offshore along eastern Coromandel Peninsula and western Bay of Plenty while thunderstorms are likely to move over central and eastern areas bringing downpours heavy enough to cause some localised flooding, mostly surface flooding but flash flooding is also a possibility.

The government forecaster still has warnings in place saying the ranges of Bay of Plenty east of Opotiki and the ranges of Gisborne north of Tokomaru Bay Rain are expected to experience heavy rain until 6am Thursday with a total of 70 to 100mm for the event.

Metservice say the heaviest falls are likely to occur this afternoon and evening, with peak intensities of 15-25mm/hr in possibly thundery rain.

Homepage image / Brendan Quaife

– WeatherWatch.co.nz