Major Storm forming off Australia, heading right for New Zealand (tornado, records)
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A Major storm in the Coral Sea off Australia's northeast coast is beginning to develop tonight and is heading directly towards New Zealand's largest city, Auckland. The Weather Watch Centre is becoming increasingly confident that a major sub-tropical cyclone will affect much of the North Island starting early on Saturday.
The Radio Network's Head Weather Analyst Philip Duncan says while its exact path still isn't 100% clear its development is. "It is going to deepen rapidly and has the potential of bringing damaging winds, flooding rain, big seas and strong rip tides.
Mr Duncan says the sub-tropical cyclone is likely to bring torrential rain to Northland, Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty and East Cape with severe gales for some regions too. "Winds possibly gusting as much as 180km/h (112mp/h) may affect exposed regions such as Northland, Coromandel, Eastern Waikato and the Hauraki Gulf. We'll have a much clearer idea over the next 24 to 36 hours as confidence on its track increases".
The air pressure with this system could drop below 970hPa for a time on Saturday which Duncan says is extremely rare for areas near Auckland and could break records. "This could help create one of the biggest storm surges seen in the upper North Island for several years. If this prediction eventuates we could storm surges to flood low lying eastern coastal areas from Northland to Auckland and across Coromandel and Bay of Plenty. It may also pose a serious risk for low lying areas around the Firth of Thames which is particularly vulnerable to northern storm surges".
From the Metservice
MetService said it was concerned about the potential wind, wave and rain impacts from a rapidly intensifying storm heading for northern New Zealand by Saturday, striking first in Northland and Auckland before reaching Bay of Plenty and Gisborne on Sunday.
"This is no ordinary storm. It's one of the largest and deepest lows we've seen for some years," MetService spokesman Brian Kreft said.
"By the time this system reaches northern New Zealand on Saturday, it is likely to have significant destructive potential."
Is this unusual for this time of year? They're having winter now.
It's definantley unusal for this time of year
"The Weather Watch Centre says it could reach Category 2 Cyclone status tomorrow morning,which is extremely unusual for the middle of winter. The New Zealand Cyclone season officially ends in April.
A bit more from the Weatherwatch centre
"It's likely to bring torrential rain to Northland, Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty and East Cape with severe gales for some regions too. "Winds possibly gusting as much as 200km/h(124mp/h) may affect exposed regions such as Northland, Coromandel, Eastern Waikato and the Hauraki Gulf with gusts to 150km/h (93mp/h) around Auckland.
The air pressure with this system could drop to 967hPa for a time on Saturday which Duncan says is extremely rare for areas near Auckland and could break records. "This could help create one of the biggest storm surges seen in the upper North Island for several years. If this prediction eventuates we could see storm surges flooding low lying eastern coastal areas from Northland to Auckland and across Coromandel and Bay of Plenty. It may also pose a serious risk for low lying areas around the Firth of Thames which is particularly vulnerable to northern storm surges".
Fortunantley it won't impact too much of New Zealand but it will impact quick a few cities. More updates to come!
Oh my!!! I wonder if that's the area that Plains just moved to.
Robyn, I'm not sure what all the article said when you posted the link, but they updated it two hours ago and they have one fatality already. It sounds like they're still going door to door.
Matty, hopefully they're wrong and it won't be bad enough to break records.
Dead on mate, extratropical storm it is, don't see too many of them down end of the globe at this time of year.
wow.....interesting to say the least, that's like getting an extratropical storm here in Late January, the closest to that is we get "nor'easters" every year from January-March.
well, stay safe out there bro!!!!
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It sounds like they're still going door to door.
, that's like getting an extratropical storm here in Late January
