MetService has lifted a severe thunderstorm warning for Canterbury after heavy rain and hail hit parts of the region this afternoon.
The severe storms were forecast to move to the northeast near Lincoln, Templeton, Rolleston, Springston, and Taitapu around 5pm.
The weather was then expected to move near Christchurch, Kaiapoi and Belfast around 5.30pm.
However, just before 5.30pm the severe thunderstorm warning was lifted.
It comes as the streets of our southernmost town were left blanketed in white, after an “intense” hailstorm in the area this morning.
Truck driver Carl Kirkbeck was bringing new fish bins out to the factories in Bluff when he noticed a dark cloud over the town around 7.30am.
“Looking at Bluff, it was jet black. It was a black you cannot describe,” he told 1News.
Another truck driver on the CB radio warned Kirkbeck – and his colleague travelling with him – of a hailstorm in the area.
While they were initially confused, when they turned the corner they found themselves in a “winter wonderland”.
“When we drove into it and saw it, it was like holy smoke. Is it bloody snow or is it actually hail?”
Arriving at a factory, Kirkbeck asked some of the workers what the hail was like.
“They said it was pretty bloody outstanding.”
Kirkbeck said it was a “good introduction to what’s coming over the next few months”.
“It’s suddenly like, sheesh, it’s winter. It was like someone just flicked a switch.”
