Tail end of Cyclone Uesi to bring heavy rain, gales to New Zealand
Wednesday, 12 February 2020
The remnants of Tropical Cyclone Uesi will hit New Zealand's South Island over the weekend.
'A lot of the models have all lined up quite nicely to show it approaching Fiordland, Westland coast on Sunday,' MetService meteorologist Rob Kerr said. Southland was also expected to be affected.
The eye of the storm wasn't likely to make landfall and the cyclone was forecast to be downgraded to a low by Friday. However, there would still be significant weather events as a result. Kerr predicted heavy rain and gale force winds, potentially exceeding 100kmh, to hit the regions.
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'By the time it gets here it won't be a tropical cyclone anymore, but it will … still be felt quite significantly.'
Forecasters were confident a rain band associated with the cyclone was going to 'hit' Sunday through to Monday, and potentially into Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the slow-moving system wasn't expected to reach New Zealand and there was a lot of uncertainty relating to its path. But as it passed over New Caledonia and gathered some speed, the models recalculated its trajectory.
'The models have made a big jump from yesterday to today,' Kerr said. 'A lot of that has to do with the fact that it's now … clear of New Caledonia and any uncertainty … has been removed.'
The impact of the system wouldn't be known until later in the week. Kerr said the team of forecasters would be keeping an eye on the models going forward, and explained they may still 'jump around a little bit more'.
On Wednesday morning, the cyclone was located around 400km west of Noumea, New Caledonia. It would continue to move southwest over the next couple of days and would transition into a subtropical low off Australia's east coast. It was expected to be reclassified as a low on Friday, MetService said.