Covering period of Tue 7 - Sun 12 April

MetService is monitoring Tropical Cyclone Vaianu (Vai -ah- noo), currently to the west of Fiji, which has the potential to bring severe weather to parts of New Zealand towards the end of this week.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Vaianu was named by meteorologists at the Fiji Meteorological Service on Monday. While the system is in the tropics, the team in Nadi will issue the official forecasts for the movement of TC Vaianu. These can be found at www.met.gov.fj

The system is currently a category three tropical cyclone west of Fiji, with winds around the centre in excess of 150km/h. TC Vaianu is forecast to move south-eastwards and, although the centre of the system is remaining to the south of Viti Levu, severe weather warnings cover much of Fiji.

As TC Vaianu continues to move south, it is forecast to bring strong winds, heavy rain and large swells to parts of New Zealand for Sunday. While the heaviest rain is currently expected across the north and east of the North Island, the areas that will be impacted and the intensity of those impacts will be heavily dependent on the path that TC Vaianu takes as it approaches New Zealand. This storm has the potential to impact large parts of New Zealand, in terms of both heavy rain and strong winds.

MetService Meteorologist John Law says, “With the potential to bring more severe weather, Tropical Cyclone Vaianu is a system that we are keeping a very close eye on. The exact path and intensity of the storm as it heads towards us in New Zealand is yet to be determined, however it does look like we will be seeing some impacts from this system during the weekend.”

The current Severe Weather Warnings, which relate to a different system moving across the country today, will be replaced with a fresh set of Severe Watches and Warnings in the coming days. Please keep up to date with the latest information found in the Severe Weather outlook Severe Weather Outlook | MetService

With several days before the impacts of Vaianu are expected to be felt here in Aotearoa New Zealand there is time to prepare for any potential Severe Weather.

-Visit Getready.govt.com for information about preparing for severe weather from NZ Civil Defence Get prepared — Get Ready (NZ Civil Defence) — Emergency preparedness in New Zealand

- Keep up with the latest forecasts, Severe Weather Warnings and Watches at www.metservice.com

- Download the MetService app and allow notifications for the latest Severe Weather Warnings in your area.

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