Hard to believe this is the Bay of Plenty.  An unreal hailstorm turns the beach resort in to a winter resort. Photo / Marion Lockwood

Large hail, thunderstorms and flash flooding have ripped across the Bay of Plenty community of Papamoa reports WeatherWatch.co.nz

Hail was so heavy it thickly covered the ground, closed roads and caused an evacuation at Bayfair Shopping Centre.

WeatherWatch.co.nz reader Maria McVeigh said the hail storm lasted for about 40 minutes.  “This photo (above) was taken at around 11.40 am when the storm had been going for around 30 minutes. The thunder and lightening were raging the entire time, I have never seen anything like it in my life!”.

See Maria’s amazing photos from Papamoa in our Storm Gallery.

Have an eyewitness report?  Easily place a comment by clicking here.

Size of Hail in Papamoa.  Photo / Sam Pachoud 

In the past 60 minutes over 1500 lightning strikes have been recorded by the Lightning Detector at WeatherWatch.co.nz most of which have been close to Mt Maunganui/Papamoa/Maketu.  Around 8400 have been detected around the North Island today. 

Thunderstorm numbers continue to swell around Bay of Plenty and now in King Country too.

Meanwhile reports are coming in about a potential funnel cloud or tornado north of Auckland north of Shelly Beach and water spouts off the Bay of Plenty coast.   (Have an eyewitness report?  Post a comment below)

The violent weather is being created by 1 of 3 deep low pressure systems circling New Zealand. The deepest and most aggressive of the lows is currently making landfall in Waikato.  Head weather analyst Philip Duncan says this explains the incredibly unstable conditions around the upper North Island.   “Torrential rain and thunderstorms also lie below the centre of this low just 50kms north of Taranaki with thunderstorms spreading across King Country, Central Plateau, and Bay of Plenty”.

Photos taken by mobile phone – hail that looks like snow in the normally sunny Bay of Plenty.  Photo / Glenn Roberts.

Mr Duncan says Taranaki, King Country, Central Plateau, Tauranga, East Cape, Auckland and Northland are all vulnerable to thunderstorms, hail and possible tornadoes today and again tomorrow.

Meanwhile the freak hail storm in Papamoa has closed a number of roads.  TimeSaverTraffic.co.nz reports there is severe surface flooding at the Mount and Papamoa due to heavy rain and hail.  Oceanbeach Road between Girvan Road and Concorde Avenue is closed.  Also affected are: State Highway 2 at Te Maunga and Papamoa Beach Road in the vicinity of Domain Road.

Ocean Road in Mt Maunganui is transformed into what looks like a glacier due to a freak hail storm around lunchtime and lasting at least an hour.  Photo / Raewyn Pamplin.

Motorists are advised to avoid these areas if at all possible and to use extreme care.

For the latest road conditions around Papamoa go to www.timesavertraffic.o.nz

The heavy downpour also caused an evacuation at Bayfair Shopping Centre.

Bayfair shopping centre was evacuated because of dangers posed by overflowing stormwater drains..and several homes in the Bayfair area also report flooding.  

See other Hail photos by clicking “Read more” below.

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Do you have an eyewitness report?  Tell us about it by clicking here.

 Maria McVeigh.

Maria McVeigh.

Maria McVeigh.

  Uploaded by: Marion Lockwood

Uploaded by: Marion Lockwood

Kim Easther

Thick hail remains on the street early this afternoon.  Photo sent by mobile phone / Glenn Roberts.

See the storm photos from today in our Storm Gallery.