Thunderstorm has hair-raising effect for girls

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Thunder, lightning and a synthetic sports pitch combined tonight to produce hair-raising results for two girls.

The storm passed over a hockey practice session at Auckland Grammar at about 6pm and when lightning spiked nearby, the static effect lifted the girls' hair towards the sky.

Weather expert and MetService forecaster Ian Millar said various elements resulted in the children's hair standing up, including that they were standing on a synthetic material.

"The reason for lightning is that you get a big separation of electric charges between the top and the base of these big towering clouds.

"And that voltage difference can be detected at ground level," Mr Millar said.

"You could probably do something similar if you rubbed a plastic comb with a synthetic material ... and if you hold it just above your hair, it will raise it," he said.

One spectator said that parents standing on the sideline could see the girls' hair reach for the sky.

"The parent next to me said: 'Gosh that lightning was low'. And the next thing is these two girls are standing there with all the hair - long hair - totally up."

None of the youngsters were hurt.

The thunder and lightning had been forecast in and around the Auckland region tonight and it was not expected to continue through to Wednesday.