Hail, thunderstorms and strong winds rattled the country overnight, with hailstones measuring 2.5cm falling on Wellington.
MetService said there were bursts of heavy rain scattered around the country including in Taranaki, which had 20 millimetres of rainfall in one hour.
Hailstones measuring 2.5 centimetres were seen in Wellington.
The capital had gusts of up to 100 kilometres an hour, said MetService lead forecaster Michael Martens.
A hailstone measuring 2.5cm that fell in Churton Park, Wellington. Photo: Supplied / Peter Fisher
Emergency services had no reports of weather-related incidents.
Active thunderstorms were in a band from Northland to the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
The cold front, which is bringing snow to Otago, Southland and Fiordland, is extending up the country, said Mr Martens.
"Strong wind gusts and heavy rain and hail can be quite localised," he said. "We had one report of 2.5 centimetres of hail in Wellington last night so that's pretty decent, that's large hail.
"Some people probably didn't see as bad weather as some others saw.
"But I can tell you from Wellington it was pretty wild yesterday evening with frequent lightning and heavy downpours."