Lightning strikes in New Zealand
The detection network has located 92 lightning strikes in New Zealand since the archive began, including 4 in the last 7 days. That is 0.00% of all detected strikes worldwide, ranking New Zealand #104 of 143 countries with recorded lightning. New Zealand is counted under Oceania in the continent totals.
Daily strikes, last 8 days
| Day (UTC) | Detected strikes |
|---|---|
| 2026-08-13 | 1 |
| 2026-08-09 | 1 |
| 2026-08-08 | 2 |
| 2026-08-02 | 2 |
| 2026-08-01 | 1 |
| 2026-07-31 | 30 |
| 2026-07-30 | 47 |
| 2026-07-29 | 8 |
Strikes by state or province
Regions follow Natural Earth admin-1 boundaries. "Unassigned" counts strikes inside New Zealand's territory but outside every region polygon, mostly coastal water and lakes.
| # | State / province | Strikes | Last 7 days | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Unassigned | 41 | 3 | 44.6% |
| 2 | West Coast | 33 | 1 | 35.9% |
| 3 | Southland | 10 | 0 | 10.9% |
| 4 | Canterbury | 2 | 0 | 2.2% |
| 5 | Tasman | 2 | 0 | 2.2% |
| 6 | Northland | 1 | 0 | 1.1% |
| 7 | Manawatū-Whanganui | 1 | 0 | 1.1% |
| 8 | Otago | 1 | 0 | 1.1% |
| 9 | Taranaki | 1 | 0 | 1.1% |
These are detected strikes, and detection coverage differs by region; the data hub explains the method and its limits. For the climatological picture, see which countries get the most lightning.
See New Zealand's next strike live
The live map plots every detected strike within seconds and times the thunder to your position.
Open the live map