The MetService issued a severe weather warning on Saturday afternoon as thunder storms loomed, and the weather did not disappoint, as lightning, thunder and hail hit Dunedin around 3.30pm.
"In the Dunedin area there would have been around 100 lightning strikes," duty forecaster Hordur Thordarson said.
"These were severe thunder storms, so it’s possible that there could have been hail stones as big as 20mm."
Waitati recorded the highest rate of rain on Saturday, 15mm in an hour, but in a severe rain event not all precipitation was caught by gauges, Mr Thordarson said.
"You could assume that in some places 20-25mm of rain may have fallen in an hour."
While the weather was not as extreme yesterday, 35kmh winds were enough to wreak havoc with the fleet which took part in the Otago Yachting Association Festival Regatta.
"That isn’t huge, but if you were in a sailboat that could potentially cause you some troubles," Mr Thordarson said.
So it proved for the fleet, Otago Yacht Club president Lynn Cooke said.
"We stopped after one race today... yesterday [Saturday] they got 3-4 races in, but we were absolutely blown out today, unfortunately."
