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A spectacular storm front that rolled over the city last night provided residents with a plentiful display of thunder and lightning but created no call outs for emergency services.

SunLive readers reported brief power cuts in Bethlehem, Matua, Brookfield, and Bellevue as lightning strikes tripped overload breakers.


Lightning seen from Welcome Bay. Photo by Bruce Barnard.

The MetService issues a thunderstorm watch for Tauranga yesterday morning which proved correct about 8pm last night.

The 40-60 minute display provided plenty of opportunities for photographers. Here are some of the images sent to SunLive and taken by our team. See SunLive's Facebook for more.


Hannah Filer from Fourth Avenue.

Lightning from Matapihi by Andrew Jenkins.

Lightning from Pyes Pa by Chantal P.

Lightning from Welcome Bay by Adriaan Coetzee.

Lightning from Yatton Park, Merivale by Ivan Lloyd.

Pikitia Postcards.