Photo / NZME
Thunderstorms and snow is lashing much of the country with strong winds seeing the speed lowered on Auckland’s harbour bridge, tornados wreaking havoc on homes in the lower north island, and snow closing roads in the south island.
"Today will be a really bad day weather-wise across much of the motu, things start to improve tomorrow," NIWA meteorologist Chris Brandolino says.
The weather had been isolated to central Aotearoa with Waikanae on the Kāpiti coast hit by two tornadoes last night, bringing down trees and knocking out power to 200 homes, but Brandolino says the storms will extend north and south today.
Wind gusts of up to 110 km/h are hitting Tāmaki Makaurau, bringing isolated power outages with them, with the worst not expected to be over till 3 pm.
Speed limits have been dropped on the Harbour bridge due to the winds and Waka Kotahi, is warning lane closures or even a "full closure” is possible.
Further south, snow is expected on the Desert Road, with the MetService urging extreme caution for road users.
The clean-up underway on a property hit by a tornado on Barrett Drive, Waikanae Beach. Photo / NZME
Paekakariki Hill road north of Wellington has been closed by a slip, and flooding has shut state highway 1 at Marton. There was also a slip in the upper Buller Gorge on SH6.
Pōneke residents should expect wind gusts of up to 130km/h according to the MetService.
In the South Island contractors are working to clear a major 1.5 metre snow dump on the Lindis pass, with Snow also closing Milford Rd and the Crown Range Rd.
The MetService has recorded more than 100,000 lightning strikes in just under a week to Monday morning.
"We've had some active weather pretty much the past several days and I think that's what's separated this winter weather system from ones we typically get every year - just the longevity." Brandolino said.
Severe thunderstorm watches are in place for Waikato, Waitomo, Taranaki, Wanganui, Manawatu, Tararua, Kapiti-Horowhenua and Wairarapa in the North Island and Nelson, Buller, Westland and the Canterbury high country, for most of Monday.
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