Northland weather forecasted to stay wet after night of thunderstorms

More than 100 lightning strikes flashed in the skies above Northland overnight. Photo / 123rf

Northlanders who awoke to a damp but clear morning shouldn't get their hopes up as rain is forecasted for later today.

Thunderstorms brought strong northeasterly winds and an hour of intensive rainfall across the region overnight.

Wind gusts up to 120kmp/h pelted the Tutukākā Harbour, Marsden Point in Bream Bay, and Cape Karikari (Whakapouaka) in the Far North.

Strong gusts were felt in Kerikeri and Kaitāia where winds clocked up to 70kmp/h.

"The eastern coast copped quite a bit in terms of the gusts late last night," Metservice meteorologist April Clark said.

Brief heavy rain doused the region ahead of an active front that was moving quickly southeast across the country.

Kaikohe experienced the highest hourly rainfall with 24.6mm in the hour up to 11pm followed by Whangārei which recorded 21.4mm in the hour up to midnight.

Most places in Northland received between 15 to 25mm of hourly rainfall.

While those numbers may appear lacklustre, Clark said they are significant enough to cause almost immediate surface flooding.

The Advocate understands severe surface flooding plagued Riverside Dr in Whangārei last night.

"Anything around 6mm in an hour is considered heavy rain," Clark explained. "Northland's rainfall was pretty high intensities in a short amount of time."

A severe thunderstorm watch issued by Metservice last night came to fruition as 107 lightning strikes lit up the region in the past 12 hours.

Of those 26 were strikes from cloud to ground, Clark said. The other strikes were cloud to cloud.

Most strikes occurred on the fringes of Northland with people located centrally able to witness the light display instead of experiencing flashes close up.

Clark said Northlanders out and about today should keep in mind showers are forecast to continue later in the day.