Authorities are telling Auckland boaties to be vigilant on the water tonight after monster twisters hovered above Auckland this afternoon.
ONE News has received several photos of the twisters, which appeared around 4pm.
One was seen in Auckland Harbour while the other was seen near Milford on the North Shore.
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ONE News weather expert Jim Hickey said the twisters appeared to be
funnel clouds, because most pictures showed them hovering in the
air rather than touching down.
"If they touch down over water they are water spouts, but on land they become tornadoes and are potentially destructive," he said.
The Fire Service said there has been one report of damage to a roof in Papatoetoe, which lost some of its roof tiles, suggesting the twister may have touched down at one point.
Hickey said the key ingredients for twisters are "heat, moisture and instability," usually caused by "converging winds".
He said the activity was moving east, into the Pacific Ocean.
Social media sites were flooded with pictures and video of the phenomena. One person said the twister was "spectacular" and that it moved "very quickly".
Northern police communications have had no reports of injury from the twisters and they were not aware of any evacuations.
They said it was visible from their station in Grey Lynn.
One man was killed and several people were injured in a
tornado which wreaked havoc in Auckland last
May.
That tornado ripped through the Albany Westfield mall, which remained closed for days afterwards while the damage was repaired.
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