An Air New Zealand plane was struck by lightning as it approached Dunedin yesterday.
Spare a thought for passenger Ben Nettleton, who thought the stag do he was returning from was going to be the excitement for the weekend.
Flight NZ689 from Wellington was 10 minutes out of Dunedin just before 4pm when a ''flash of light'' struck the right wing.
''Just out of the blue there was this really loud bang and a flash of light on the right side of the plane,'' Mr Nettleton said.
''Another passenger saw [the lightning] hit the wing, and rush up the wing of the plane ... I thought it had hit my window.''
He said he was left with a ''numbing, tingling sensation'' on the side of his face following the incident.
The pilot then took the plane back over Port Chalmers and around the coast until the weather cleared, he said.
An Air New Zealand spokeswoman confirmed the flight was hit by lightning on approach to Dunedin. It landed without incident and would be inspected by engineers.
''Lightning strikes are not uncommon and aircraft are designed with this in mind.''
Passengers on Flight NZ688 from Dunedin to Wellington and on Flight NZ478 from Wellington to Auckland were put on other planes while engineers inspected the aircraft.
The lightning was part of a storm system that brought high temperatures and rain to some areas of Otago yesterday, but not enough to make a difference in the driest areas.
The MetService issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Otago at 1.34pm yesterday, but the intense rainfall and large hailstones predicted did not come to much, and the watch was lifted at 7pm.
MetService severe weather forecaster Erick Brenstrum said lightning strikes were recorded around the Dunedin airport and city over several hours in the afternoon as the thunderstorms developed.
Such convection storm patterns were usually short, sharp and localised, Mr Brenstrum said.
The heaviest Otago downpour yesterday was at Millers Flat, where 16mm fell between 1pm and 2pm, though heavy rain was also reported in Palmerston later in the afternoon.
The thunderstorms had drifted offshore by early evening, although more are expected today.
MetService meteorologist Sarah Haddon said other rain around the region since Friday was too light and localised to have done anything to lessen concerns about drought conditions.
Queenstown received the most rain, with 56mm falling between midnight Thursday and 4pm yesterday.
Dunedin city recorded 26mm in the same period, while down the road, Dunedin International Airport only received 2mm.
The rain was also meagre in the region's drier areas, with Oamaru only receiving 6mm, Alexandra 1mm and Middlemarch 0.8mm in the same period as the pattern of warmer and drier weather recorded over the month of January continues into February.
