Watch: Tornado-like cloud forms near Taupo

An incredible funnel cloud has been captured on video forming in the skies near Taupo.

Taupo had been expecting rain and possible thunderstorms today but had instead remained largely dry, forecaster MetService said.

However, the conditions proved ripe for the clouds to spiral into a funnel.

Funnel clouds were often caused when cooler and warmer air moving in different directions and different altitudes mixed together, causing clouds to rotate and produce a funnel shape, the MetService said.

Tornadoes can form when funnel clouds connect with the ground but not all funnel clouds become tornadoes.

Fellow forecaster Niwa shared video of the funnel cloud after it was sent in by Megan Bishop.

Taupo was still forecast to receive rain this evening up until 9pm, according to MetService.

Auckland, meanwhile, flipped from a rainy and chilly morning to a bright and sunny afternoon today with a top of 24C.

Kiwis across the country can expect more above-average temperatures for the rest of summer – and plenty of sticky humidity – amid a very atypical La Nina climate system.

Niwa’s just-released weather outlook for the next three months predicted air temperatures were most likely to be hotter than normal in all regions, at a time the north of the country was sweltering through unusually dry conditions.

But that didn’t mean the coming months wouldn’t be wet.

“Looking ahead, we can expect extended dry spells – as we’ve seen through December – will continue over the upcoming three months,” Niwa meteorologist Ben Noll said.

“But they’ll be interspersed with periods of brief, but maybe highly unsettled weather, where you can have downpours.

“There is also potential for flooding events, as we saw in recent storms that affected the top of the South Island, Otago, the central North Island, and Hawke’s Bay.”

More mugginess was in store too, with spells of high humidity expected from time to time, especially in the north.

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