Rain, hail, thunder brings traffic to a standstill

Heavy rain and thunder at 5pm yesterday saw motorists on Havelock Rd lighting up to be seen. Photo / Duncan Brown

Severe thunderstorms with strong downpours and hail forced cars to a standstill at the summit on the Napier-Taupo road yesterday evening.

While there were no reports of car accidents or damage to vehicles during the wild weather, the Metservice predicted the storms were likely to be accompanied by localised heavy rain with intensities of 10mm to 25mm per hour and hail that was 10mm to 20mm diameter.

It reported the wild weather developed during the afternoon and early evening over Bay of Plenty, Taupo and the ranges of Gisborne and northern Hawke's Bay.

"Outside this area, there is a low risk of thunderstorms for the Coromandel Peninsula, Waikato, Taumarunui, Taihape and the remainder of Gisborne and Hawke's Bay," it reported.

The service said no other areas of severe convection or thunderstorms were expected for New Zealand.

Metservice Forecastor Hordur Thordarson said this kind of "showery situation" was fairly common for spring.

For today, Mr Thordarson forecasted fine weather with high clouds and westerlies at first.

"And then some scattered showers developing late in the morning with a southerly change," he said.