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Four and a half thousand lightning strikes have hit the country in two hours, with the vast majority occurring in South Taranaki and King Country.
More occurred across Waikato, Bay of Plenty, and a handful in Southland.
The central North island was under a severe thunderstorm watch until 9pm. A thunderstorm watch was in place for Southland, Fiordland, Dunedin, and Central Otago until 10pm. MetService was also forecasting 25-40mm of rain in the south.
Communities are being warned of possible flooding or landslips and drivers are being warned of wet and hazardous conditions.
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However, the forecast for Christmas day was for clearer skies, according to MetService forecaster Aidan Pyselman.
“Christmas is not looking too bad. There will be some heat showers building up inland. Winds are light, so there will be some sea breezes. Overall, it’s relatively settled,” said Pyselman.
The wet and humid weather in some areas is due to a low pressure system in the Tasman Sea pushing humid air towards New Zealand.
That could bring more thunderstorms right up to Christmas Day..
“We’ve done some preliminary research on thunderstorms for Christmas and there are possibilities of thunderstorms on Christmas Day,” MetService meteorologist Elwyn Bakker said.
“As we progress into Christmas Day, that area of instability is starting to settle but we don’t quite know when exactly it’ll be totally clear until closer to the time.”
Holidaymakers can also look forward to “quite a nice warm day” on the 25th, Bakker said.
“Across the country, temperatures will pick up. Most places will be just above average for this time of year.”
Boxing Day will likely be the warmest with places in both the North and South Island set to reach a high of 28C, Pyselman said.
Auckland will see a thundery Thursday, followed by showers on Friday and Saturday clearing to a fine Christmas Day.
Showers will stick around until Saturday in Wellington, easing for a sunny day on Sunday.
Christchurch is forecast to see cloudy conditions for the remainder of the week, and a fine afternoon on Christmas Day.
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