Update on Tropical Cylone Pam

Tropical Cyclone Pam (now a Category 4) has moved across 25S into TCWC Wellington (METSERVICE NZ) area of responsibility early this morning. At 7am today (Sunday 15 March), it was located at 26.8S 172.7E or 850 kilometres north of Cape Reinga, moving southeast about 52 km/h. A high sea warning with hurricane force wind is in force with this system, which also brings torrential rain, unusually heavy swells and very large waves. The expected track is now slightly further west and on this course Tropical Cyclone Pam is expected to lie about 620 kilometres north-northeast of Cape Reinga at 1pmthis afternoon, and 420 kilometres north of East Cape about midnight tonight. Looking into Monday Tropical Cylcone Pam is expected to lie and 240 kilometres east of East Cape around midday Monday and about 470 Kilometres east of Napier at midnight tomorrow.

You can keep up to date with the latest on Tropical Cyclone Pam via this MetService blog post: http://blog.metservice. com/2015/03/tropical-update-mar15/

MetService has issued a Severe Weather warning for northern and eastern parts of the North Island, where heavy rain and south to southeast gales are expected from this evening (Sunday) through to Tuesday. MetService Meteorologist Fulong Lu commented, "Tropical Cyclone Pam is expected to remain a very deep system as it passes to the east of the country late Mondayand Tuesday".

Apart from heavy rain and severe gales, Tropical Cyclone Pam is expected to bring very heavy swells to the North Island east coast from Northland to Hawke's Bay, 4 to 6m near the coast, and 6 to 8m offshore. People considering venturing near or into the water, are advised to take extra precautions, especially when winds are onshore, and check the latest forecasts for expected dangerous conditions.

The Chatham Islands are expected to see Pam pass overhead around middayTuesday, bringing torrential rain, severe gales, unusually heavy swells and very large waves (even by Chatham Island standards) from Monday evening.

Please keep up to date with the latest forecasts and any watches/warnings atmetservice.com or on mobile devices at m.metservice.com. You can also follow our updates on MetService TV, at MetService New Zealand on Facebook, @metservice on Twitter and at blog.metservice.com

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