Skies over the northern half of the North Island are in for more flashes of light in the next 12 to 18 hours as the low that has affected New Zealand for the past 10 days exhales its last gasp of energy.

As of 5pm the Lightning Tracker at WeatherWatch.co.nz showed 135 strikes in the past hour, mostly around western Northland.

The thunderstorms will move down Northland tonight and produce a heavy shower with thunder as far south as Auckland.

Similar weather is expected tomorrow morning too, and although the thunderstorms are going to be  more isolated  than previous days they are expected to make a more direct hit to Northland, Auckland, Coromandel and Bay of Plenty.

Thunderstorms will affect Whangarei this evening, stretching down into Auckland possibly as early as this evening with remaining thunderstorms clearing Auckland and Northland tomorrow morning and moving into Bay of Plenty in the afternoon.

MetService says the risk is “high” for these regions and that hail is also possible.

Image: Simon Williams