Sleep deprivation was rife in Queenstown yesterday after one of the most spectacular thunder and lightning shows in recent years kept residents and visitors awake until the wee hours.
The MetService reported more than 26,000 lightning strikes in about 12 hours overnight on Sunday - almost 10,000 of them between midnight and 2am.
The lightning was accompanied by loud, unrelenting claps of thunder and intermittent downpours of rain, which delivered about 9mm of rain overnight.
That forced Coronet Peak to close yesterday so the saturated snow pack could dry out ahead of its final week of the 2017 season.
Although the Remarkables skifield opened yesterday, the Shadow chairlift was closed due to "weather and snow conditions'' and the Sugar chairlift was on hold due to high winds.
