Almost 1000 lightning strikes recorded in Bay of Plenty in seven hours

Almost 1000 lightning strikes hit the Bay of Plenty last night, with the “amazing” electrical storm captured on video lighting up Tauranga and Rotorua skies.

Rotorua resident Joshua Dahya was at home in Owhata and first noticed the lightning at 9.47pm.

“It was just so random how it was just in the one spot. There was small ones and there then was big ones, small ones, big ones … within 15 seconds of each other. It was very odd,” Dahya told the Rotorua Daily Post.

“We only saw the lightning. We were all listening for the thunder and we were like, ‘there’s no thunder’.”

Dahya headed to the Blue Lake, where there was little light pollution.

“It was quite amazing out there … ”

Dahya left the Blue Lake about 10.45pm.

“There was still massive ones, it was just quite quiet.”

MetService meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane said 990 lightning strikes were detected over the Bay of Plenty between 5pm and midnight on Wednesday.

This included lightning “within/between clouds” and lightning that reached the ground, she said.

Makgabutlane said the lightning and thunder people experienced was likely from a thunderstorm that was moving over the eastern Bay of Plenty, near and east of Rotorua.

It comes as the region anticipates a run of sizzling weather over the weekend, with temperatures up to 30C in some Bay of Plenty towns.