Huge thunderstorm with hail...

...in Helena Bay, Northland [] It was great seeing how quickly the goats could get back to their shed [}][}]

Reckon it might have been about as fast as my son and step-son moved when they were shoveling manure with their shirts off because it was a warm day and a hail shower passed over.

[}][}]

Oh lucky...i do love a good thunderstorm,dont like the hail part of it though,but then i do live in a area that never gets large hail..thankfully

I looked longingly across the horizon at the black clouds and obvious rain, while i sweated in the hot sun shifting mulch onto gardens
I emailed friends to see how much rain they got, they are about 10km away as the crow flies, and they got hail as well.
And there is a big low coming up with poor weather on the way, I guess Prince Charles has brought it as it apparently rained all the time he was in australia

One clap of thunder and lightening here in Pukekohe and a minute of heavy rain drops and that was it. Not even enough to water the vegetable garden. So disappointed given how much we pay for water in the new Super City!

So much hail here, it lifted the lid off the water trap, blocked the drain, and made the rain water flood across the path and into the garden where there was a huge pile of ice. Some of my plants are now blackened wrecks!

Over my many years living in Bombay looking North, I watched the weather pattern change and now when the weather forecast says Auckland will get rain, hail, whatever, it does not stretch to the West - including Pukekohe.

The rain etc sweeps across the northern area and heads for the Hunua Ranges and moves onto Coromandel and down the Coast. Facinating given the topography hasn't changed but then the Hunua Ranges is one of the major water catchment areas for Auckland and that hasn't changed. Just that the "sweep" has moved further North.