Winter's here with a bang

GERARD SMITH

DAY BREAKS: Lightning over the Orongorongos, snapped at 6.15 Wednesday morning from Fortification Rd, above Wellington's Scorching Bay.

Wellington woke to booming thunder, flashes of lightning and a deluge of rain and hail yesterday the start of a week of soggy and frigid weather.

The MetService is expecting showers in Wellington today before another southerly blast tomorrow brings rain till at least Sunday.

It will be cold, but might not be as dramatic as the 190 lightning strikes recorded in the lower North Island early yesterday morning, or the hail that fell when a southerly change dumped 16mm of rain on Wellington's eastern and southern suburbs between 6am and 7am.

MetService spokesman Bob McDavitt said cold, windy and wet conditions could dominate for the next week, with a particularly icy weekend expected.

Temperatures would plunge into single figures, but cold winds would make the South Island and lower North Island feel closer to "below zero".

Snow was expected on the Desert Road overnight and down to 800 metres in Otago and Canterbury in the next few days.

Firefighters dealt with minor flooding in Brooklyn and Island Bay yesterday morning and thunder set off a fire alarm in Newtown.

Sergeant Mark Oliver, from police central communications, said patrol cars struggled to reach a car accident in Berhampore about 5.30am because of hail on the road.

"It was like marbles down Adelaide Rd."

WHAT CAUSES LIGHTNING

Lightning usually forms when rising cloud mist starts to freeze. Liquid and ice crystals collide building up static electricity. When the cloud can no longer hold the energy, lightning is released.

To work out the distance between you and the lightning use a formula of 340 metres per second. If there is three seconds between the flash and the crash, the lightning is approximately 1km away.

The safest place is indoors. Metal objects attract lightning so playing golf is a no-no.