Bay of Plenty sees 100 lightning strikes during the morning

About 100 lightning strikes were recorded in the Bay of Plenty this morning as thunderstorms swept across the country.

Metservice meteorologist Stephen Glassey said the thunderstorm crossed Tauranga around 6am, moving towards Whakatāne about 7am.

"From about 6am this morning, we had quite a lot of lightning towards the south and west of Tauranga. Then there were some lightning strikes in the Eastern Bay of Plenty around 7am, but it didn't look as frequent as the lightning near Tauranga.

"There were about 100 lightning strikes in the Bay of Plenty this morning, all in a relatively short space of time.

"We're still expecting showers throughout the day, with a moderate risk of more thunderstorms throughout the day."

Glassey said a relatively active front was moving across the North Island during the overnight period and this morning.

It was currently moving east of Whakatāne.

Ohauiti resident Laura Popata recorded videos of the lightning this morning.

She said it was the "coolest" storm she had seen in a while.