{"id":215011,"date":"2026-01-03T15:31:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T15:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/215011\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T15:31:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T15:31:13","slug":"severe-weather-thunderstorms-forecast-to-bring-torrential-rain-and-hail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/215011\/","title":{"rendered":"Severe weather: Thunderstorms forecast to bring torrential rain and hail"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">Areas of Rotorua, Waikato, Taupo and Hawke\u2019s Bay are under severe thunderstorm watches.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Hail in Auckland's North Shore. Photo \/ Supplied\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Hail in Auckland&#8217;s North Shore. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">Locals are asked to prepare. The National Emergency Management Agency advises that as storms approach you should:<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">&#8211; Take shelter, preferably indoors away from windows;- Avoid sheltering under trees, if outside;<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">&#8211; Get back to land, if outdoors on the water;<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">&#8211; Move cars under cover or away from trees;<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udfe7 \u26c8\ufe0fA Severe thunderstorm Warning is out for CLARKS BEACH, PUKEKOHE, PATUMAHOE, GLENBROOK, KINGSEAT, DRURY and ARARIMU.<\/p>\n<p>\u203c\ufe0fImpacts: flash flooding about streams, gullies and urban areas, and make driving conditions extremely hazardous.<\/p>\n<p>Details here <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/GeH6tLulff\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/GeH6tLulff<\/a>\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ZWvfiTadE6\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/ZWvfiTadE6<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 MetService NZ (@MetService) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MetService\/status\/2007275679113716168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">January 3, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">&#8211; Secure loose objects around your property;<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">&#8211; Check that drains and gutters are clear;<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">&#8211; Be ready to slow down or stop, if driving.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">During and after the storm, you should also:<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">&#8211; Beware of fallen trees and power lines;<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">&#8211; Avoid streams and drains as you may be swept away in flash flooding.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Hail in Auckland's North Shore. Photo \/ Supplied\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Hail in Auckland&#8217;s North Shore. Photo \/ Supplied<img  alt=\"A tornado funnel was spotted from Paeroa in the Waikato region. Photo \/ Chanel Reid\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>A tornado funnel was spotted from Paeroa in the Waikato region. Photo \/ Chanel Reid<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">Hawke\u2019s Bay north of Napier is already under a heavy rain warning, with 90mm to 140mm expected, especially in the ranges, and 170mm possible in Wairoa District.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Hailstones the size of coins dropped upon Auckland's North Shore. Photo \/ Supplied\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Hailstones the size of coins dropped upon Auckland&#8217;s North Shore. Photo \/ Supplied<img  alt=\"Hail fell down upon Albany in Auckland's North Shore around 5.20pm. Photo \/ Supplied\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Hail fell down upon Albany in Auckland&#8217;s North Shore around 5.20pm. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">The 18-hour warning ends at 3am tomorrow, but heavy rain was expected to ease south of the Wairoa District late tonight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">A 22-hour heavy rain warning for Gisborne\/Tair\u0101whiti began at noon today with 110 to 170mm of rain forecast to fall, especially in the ranges.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Hail in Auckland's North Shore. Photo \/ Supplied\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Hail in Auckland&#8217;s North Shore. Photo \/ Supplied<img  alt=\"A tornado funnel was spotted in Whang\u0101rei. Photo \/ Lyn Groenewald\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>A tornado funnel was spotted in Whang\u0101rei. Photo \/ Lyn Groenewald<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">Northland and Auckland were also affected by thunderstorms that crossed the top of the country yesterday afternoon, with a Grey Lynn villa and a Mangawhai home catching fire after being struck by lightning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">Pictures sent to the Herald show hailstones the size of small coins that dropped upon Albany in Auckland\u2019s North Shore around 5.20pm. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">The thunderstorms should ease early evening, but rainfall of this intensity could cause surface or flash flooding, slips and hazardous conditions for motorists.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Areas of Rotorua, Waikato, Taupo and Hawke\u2019s Bay are under severe thunderstorm watches. Hail in Auckland&#8217;s North Shore.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2840,95,51,3021,15980,5616,61294,129992,305,2514,3242,9322,20591,130,111,43,139,529,69,6560,2848,20592,61,6634,25448,8222,4998],"class_list":["post-215011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-across","tag-and","tag-auckland","tag-bring","tag-fallen","tag-forecast","tag-hail","tag-hailstones","tag-have","tag-island","tag-large","tag-lightning","tag-metservice","tag-more","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-north","tag-nz","tag-rain","tag-severe","tag-thunderstorms","tag-to","tag-torrential","tag-upper","tag-warned","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}