Yesterday’s severe thunderstorms were predicted by MetService but the size of the storms amazed WeatherWatch.co.nz forecasters.

Head weather analyst Philip Duncan says the strength of the storms wasn’t out of character for mid Summer but the widespread nature was.  “WeatherWatch.co.nz recorded over 22,000 lightning strikes in the 24 hours of Tuesday and most of those storms were centered over the North Island.  We were discussing this last night and it’s the first time we can recall such widespread severe storms”.

“These storms will more than likely be remembered in an historical sense”

Mr Duncan says the storms peaked in the late afternoon at over 2600 lightning strikes per hour.  “That is an incredibly high rate and what makes it even more violent was the fact that most of the storms were centred over the King Country/Waitomo and South Waikato regions”.

In total several regions were affected by the severe thunderstorms with MetService severe forecasters working a long day.  Waikato, Rotorua, Ruapehu, Taranaki, Tararua, Gisborne, Central Hawkes and Manawatu all had Severe Thunderstorm Warnings posted during at least one time on Tuesday.