Metservice stunned as 80 per cent of 33,200 lightning strikes recorded across NZ in past 24 hours occurred on land

The thunderstorms that swept across the North Island yesterday and overnight gave Kiwis plenty of chances to snap photos with thousands of lightning strikes recorded.

A Metservice NZ spokesperson has confirmed to 1 NEWS that a total of 33,218 lightning strikes were recorded across the country in the last 24 hours.

27,087 of those were recorded in the North Island and 175 in the South Island.

The rest were recorded off-shore, mostly off the shore of Taranaki.

Metservice said this was very remarkable as most lightning strikes are usually off-shore, however 80 per cent of lightning strikes in the last 24- hours were inland.

Auckland also experienced heavy flashes of rain with downpours of 25mm to 35mm an hour recorded in parts of South Auckland between 9 and 10pm.

High winds were experienced in other parts of Auckland with gusts between 60km/h and 80km/h recorded at Tiritiri Matangi Island in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf.

A Fire and Emergency NZ spokesperson has confirmed to 1 NEWS that they received 22 directly attributable weather call-outs last night.

The majority were due to flooding, bar a few that were down to fallen trees.

All the calls were split between the Manurewa/Papakura area and Waiheke Island.

They also received a large number of fire alarm activation call-outs, a regular occurrence with high decibel thunder and lightning storms.

There still remains a moderate risk for thunderstorms in Auckland this afternoon and evening while a high risk remains for Northland and from Waikato to Palmerston North.