UPDATED: 8.34am More lightning is lighting up the skies over Wellington, cutting power to thousands.

The stormy weather has rolled back in to the Capital this morning.

Wellington Electricity said more than 18,000 customers were without power following the latest lightning strikes.

Transpower said power has been restored to all customers in the Lower Hutt area.

The power outage affected those in Wainuiomata, Seaview, Petone, Gracefield and Korokoro.

More than a thousand lightning strikes illuminated the sky last night, while thunder boomed across the top of the South Island and bottom of the North.

MetService's Arno Dayson said the skies were well and truly lit up.

"All the way from Nelson, Marlborough Sounds, Wellington into New Plymouth area. In the last six hours we've seen 1186 lightning strikes all across New Zealand but mostly focused in that area."