Morningside resident Pete Smith heard a loud boom and believes electrical current travelled down a tree and found its way to rebar inside concrete. Video / Supplied
As someone who has dedicated much of his life to adventure sports, Auckland resident Pete Smith has a high threshold for what constitutes an adrenaline rush.
But he admits a blast outside his Morningside home yesterday afternoon - the result of a lightning strike in his garden - left even him "a little shaky afterwards to be sure".
"I take a lot of excitement," said the recreational caver and canyoner, who operates a business selling gear for such activities. "But that was kind of, yeah, out of this world."
Smith was one of the many New Zealanders who experienced a light show yesterday as thunderstorms hit much of the country. During a 12-hour period, there were just under 1300 strikes reported, about 100 of which were in Auckland.
Coincidentally, Smith said he had been pondering why homes don't have lightning rods on their roofs and was in the process of googling an answer at about 3.30pm yesterday when he noticed a flash of light followed by an immediate, loud boom.
"I thought, 'My God, that's really close,'" he recalled to the Herald today, explaining that he went outside to find bricks and rocks scattered across his yard.
He thinks the lightning must have first struck a nearby tree before the surge of electrical current found steel rebar buried inside concrete in his garden. While not a huge blast, it scattered rock debris for about 5m, he estimated.
Electricity at his home was knocked out for about two hours before Vector was able to restore it, and he's been advised to have an electrician assess his home's wiring to see if there has been any other damage.
Morningside resident Pete Smith holds a piece of debris created when a lightning strike hit his garden on Saturday. Photo / Alex Burton
"It was quite exciting but when you think about it quite unnerving too," he said. "It could have been really bad if it was a few meters nearer our reroofed house."
MetService forecaster Aidan Pyselman told the Herald yesterday that there was "quite a lot of thunder and lightning activity" on the radar.
"You're unlikely to be hit, but obviously don't go outside holding a metal rod or something - golfing probably isn't the best idea," he advised yesterday.
A slow-moving front is expected to continue moving across the North Island for the next two days, which has already resulted in heavy rain watches and warnings today for most areas north of Napier.
A front remains slow-moving across the North Island over the next 2 days.
The latest round of Severe Weather Warnings has been issued.
"It's been quite a wet afternoon in Auckland," said MetService forecaster Gerard Bellam.
But it hasn't been accompanied by much lightening today, he added
Northern Auckland town Leigh recorded 74mm from midnight to 3pm today, while Albert Park in central Auckland recorded 70mm. In other regions, Bellam said the Coromandel ranges "had the lion's share" of rain, with 92mm recorded at the Pinnacles.
In the South Island, meanwhile, both Christchurch and Lyttelton sweltered today with highs of 25C, seven degrees higher than Christchurch's average for this time of year.
MetService forecasters predict another rain band may approach the South Island on Tuesday, moving up the South Island on Wednesday and over the North Island the next day.
"Late Tuesday and into Wednesday, there is moderate confidence of significant heavy rain in Fiordland," MetService said. "For Wednesday and Thursday, there is mostly moderate confidence that rainfall amounts will reach warning criteria about western Tasman, Buller and the Southern Alps, with significant spillover into the headwaters of the Canterbury and Otago lakes and rivers; however for Westland confidence is high."
There was good news today for 40,000 Six60 fans in Wellington whose plans to see the band perform at Sky Stadium last night were ruined by a heavy rain warning and a heavy wind watch. With MetService advising that gusts of up to 100km/h were possible, the concert was postponed until this evening.
It will still be somewhat windy at the stadium tonight, but otherwise the weather should be "quite fine", Bellam said.
