There may still be a few heavy showers out there but it appears the worst is now over from a large low in the Tasman Sea.

The low, which at one stage engulfed most of the Tasman Sea, brought plenty of heavy rain to Taranaki, Northland and Bay of Plenty but failed to deliver more than 20mm for most of the Auckland region.

Sometimes violent the low brought thousands of lightning strikes to New Zealand and tornados were reported north of Auckland and in Taranaki, creating some damage.

Today the low is likely to continue to push showers over the North Island’s west coast, some may be heavy, however WeatherWatch.co.nz believes widespread thunderstorms have now eased.   WeatherWatch says isolated thunderstorms may still pop up along the west and northern parts of New Zealand as the low makes landfall and conditions remain unstable.

MetService says that all the ingredients remain in place for more thunderstorms today across northern and westerns parts of the North Island and the Nelson region.  Because of this WeatherWatch.co.nz will continue extensive coverage across the afternoon if warranted.