MetService meteorologist John Law said residents could expect to see more of the same across the province due the current weather pattern, “the perfect one for thunderstorms to develop”.
Warm air near the ground, rising to mix with cold air moving north, was making the atmosphere unstable and forming tall storm clouds.
“These are the tall, towering clouds we saw on [Monday] and we could see again for the next few days.”
The storms can bring lightning and hail, with “the stronger the updraughts, the bigger the hail can grow”.
Fast-moving winds could also create funnel clouds, which once they touch the ground, become tornadoes that can cause a lot of damage.
“Thankfully for New Zealand, ours tend to be short-lived and very narrow.”
“I’m no Jim Hickey. But I thought, hang on, that looks to me like a tornado. So I just took a photo of it and popped it up online.
“I had just never seen anything like it in my 40 years on planet Earth.’’
Tile Centre co-owner Charlene Smith said she missed the tornado and downpour because she had dashed to the rear of the business to make sure stock was safe from any internal gutter overflow.
But she was impressed with the cloud formations she captured on her camera on the way home from work at 5pm.
While the storm carved a distinct path across the city, social media posts reported clear blue skies in Bluff and Tussock Creek.
While motorists reported surface flooding on some streets after the heavy hail, a Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesperson said the service was not called out to any flooding or storm-related events.
Toni McDonald
