A front passed over the North Island on Monday morning, trending northeast during afternoon, while another front pushed northwards over the South Island, with strong westerly winds changing southwest.
WeatherWatch senior forecaster Philip Duncan says heavy falls with thunderstorms and hail dominates in the west, easing from this afternoon for the West Coast, while some snow develops about the far south this afternoon lowering to about 600m.
Two tornadoes also hit Waikanae on the Kapiti Coast.
More severe weather is expected across both main islands as a major low pressure zone brushes southern New Zealand, bringing gales to many coastal areas, but by the end of Tuesday will have far less influence after nearly a week of producing pockets of severe weather.
One farmer took to Twitter this morning to share an on-farm photo depicting an uprooted tree across the muddy road.
“A bit of a challenge getting the cows to the cowshed for milking this morning,” he wrote.
According to MetService there have been over 111,000 lightning strikes in the NZ area and eastern Tasman Sea in the past week, issuing 20 warnings and watches for the South Island and 13 in the North Island.
See more social media posts of the storm damage across the country below.
View up-to-date weather reports at RuralWeather.
