Weather: Violent lightning strikes tear sky apart

Massive lightning strikes are erupting across New Zealand as thunderstorms roll over the country.

Video on Twitter shows a giant strike in south Taranaki tearing the air apart as the huge bolt hammers down.

"I've never seen a fork lightning storm like it! I happened to be filming out the window when this struck what felt like the other side of the window!" the witness says.

"I'd just dropped kids and hubby off at school to go on school camp and the fork lightning was hitting ground!"

Another image provided to Newshub captures the blazing electricity arcing down to smash the ground.

A lightning strike in Taranaki.
A lightning strike in Taranaki. Photo credit: Bradley Andrews / Supplied

And the weather is only going to get worse, experts warn.

"A deepening developing low has been approaching New Zealand overnight bringing isolated thunderstorms to the western North Island, torrential downpours to the west and snow to the South Island ranges," Weather Watch says.

"Along the front between the more mild air over the North Island and cold air in the South Island a lot of thunderstorms have been observed - with many more coming in this morning from the Tasman Sea."

Newshub.