Wairarapa experienced wild extremes of weather over the weekend from bright sunshine to tornados.
The tornado was captured on camera by Masterton resident Peter Riddell late yesterday afternoon. His picture shows a tornado forming over land between Carterton and Masterton.
Mr Riddell said the picture was taken from Ngaumutawa Road, where he went with his camera when he realised it was "tornado weather".
"It was thundering and warm then the cold air hit. It seemed like the temperature fell 10 degrees in about 10 minutes. The hot air was being sucked straight up like a funnel," he said.
The tornado never formed fully enough to touch land.
Also late yesterday afternoon a thunder and hailstorm hit Carterton.
District council planning and regulatory manager Milan Hautler said the storm carried on for about 15 minutes.
"The hailstones were about the size of peas, but so far we have had no reports of damage."
The Met Service yesterday issued a heavy rain warning for Hawke's Bay and Wairarapa.
Met Service forecaster Jess Sanders said there had been flooding in Napier since the warning.
He said there is a strong easterly flow on the southern side of the low, traversing the North Island.
"It's quite an active system with ice pellets on the Rimutaka Hills. There was flooding in Kaitoke in the early hours this morning.
"Twenty millimetres of rain has fallen on Masterton in the past five hours (up to 8am)," Mr Sanders said.
Rain intensity is expected to reach 10 to 15mm an hour at times today, but the front should ease by 9pm this evening.
Masterton District Council civil defence officer Paul Walker said there were no road closures at the time the Times-Age went to press.
A Met Service heavy rain warning issued today said that in the nine to 12 hours from 9am there would be persistent rain, with 60 to 80mm accumulating about the eastern hills and 30 to 50mm about the eastern slopes of the Tararuas.
There is a risk that exceptionally heavy thundery downpours may reach Castlepoint early afternoon, resulting in intensities of 20 to 30mm an hour.
Tornado, rain and storms hit region
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