More than a thousand lightning strikes off NZ

Photo / APN

More than a thousand lightning flashes have been detected along the west coast of New Zealand in the past hour according to the Lightning Tracker at WeatherWatch.co.nz.

In the past 60 minutes the number of strikes has almost doubled to nearly 1500.

"Very impressive thunderstorm over Greymouth at the moment, we have been having them on and off most of the day but this one is the best so far...now its hailing too" wrote Juliet Oates a short time ago on WeatherWatch.co.nz's Facebook page.

The thunderstorms are now moving into the North Island. "Had a few decent flashes in Levin a short while ago, now the wind and rain really starting to pick up" says Andrew Blair.

WeatherWatch.co.nz says there is a high chance of thunderstorms and hail right up the west coast of New Zealand tonight and overnight, including Auckland, as a cold change comes through.

Auckland's high tomorrow will be down 4 or 5 degrees on today as the cold change comes through.

WeatherWatch.co.nz also says there's a moderate risk of an isolated small tornado along the west coast of the country overnight with the risk easing easing later during Friday morning.

The increased thunder activity is because of a large storm still churning south of New Zealand.

It's expected to remain there until at least mid next week.