Reports of a mini tornado are coming in from Papamoa this morning.

SunLive has been contacted by a number of different people reporting a 'weird wind event” around 1am.

Nicholle Roberson, who lives near Sandhurst Drive, says her and her husband woke up at 1am to their house shaking and the wind outside blowing violently.

'Then all of a sudden calm.

'It was definitely at least a mini tornado. Was pretty intense.”

Nicholle says other people have experienced the same thing.

Monique Baird Wagener says she also experienced 'odd wind here in Papamoa overnight”.

'I am not sure if it's the same event of a separate one. As theirs seems a touch earlier than what my husband remembers.”'

The damage from the weather episode which MetService could not confirm was a tornado.Supplied photo.

Monique, who lives off Pacific View down Gloucester Road end, says she experienced it about 1.30am.

'It was dead still outside, rain had stopped and then a massive gust of wind, happened out of nowhere.

'Honestly thought our shade sails were going to be ripped off their poles the wind was that strong.”

Monique says it lasted about 15 seconds and then back to completely dead still, with not a breath of wind outside.An uprooted tree in Papamoa. Photo: Nicholle Roberson.

MetService Meteorologist Amy Rossiter says there was a 'strong convection cell” across the Bay of Plenty just before midnight, but it was 'hard to say” if there would have been tornado.

'Conveniently, none of our stations picked anything up so it must have avoided everything,” laughs Amy.

'Looking at the radar signals, they do not look deep enough to have caused a tornado but there would have been some very heavy and intense rainfall periods as it went across which could have provided 30mm rainfall in an hour.

'It might have just been a very strong downpour and short-lived gusts but it is hard to say if it was a tornado.”