Cyclone Hale, the first named tropical cyclone of 2023 in the South Pacific, is expected to hit New Zealand this week, bringing severe weather to parts of the North Island on Tuesday 10th and Wednesday 11th January.

Published 2 years ago

New Zealand’s Metservice reported that Tropical Cyclone Hale was moving to the south of New Caledonia and would likely be reclassified as a subtropical low on Monday while continuing to move east-southeast. It was expected to be located north of New Zealand near latitude 30S at midnight on Monday, January 9th.

“At this stage, there is some uncertainty regarding the timing and movement of Cyclone Hale, but it will likely bring a period of heavy rain, gale or severe gale winds and hazardous coastal conditions to parts of northern and central New Zealand from Monday evening through until Thursday morning,” said a Metservice spokesperson.

Currently a category one storm, Cyclone Hale was named by the Fiji Meteorological Service and while it is mostly at sea, it is expected to bring severe gales, heavy rain and dangerous beach conditions to eastern coastal areas of the North Island.

Weather service WeatherWatch said they expected the tropical cyclone is expected to clear to the south-east of the country later in the week.

New Zealand has been continually battered by heavy rain and strong winds in the past week and many areas have had rain and wind warnings in place.

Update on Tropical Cyclone Irene

On January 19, the Fiji Met Service reported that tropical depression 05F intensified into a Category 1 tropical cyclone and was named Irene ,while located to the west of Vanuatu.

It intensified into a Category 2 system when south of Port Villa, Vanuatu but then weakened as it passed south of the Fiji group. Despite remaining out to sea, Irene did deliver heavy rain, thunderstorms, strong and gusty winds and rough to very rough seas for Yasawa and Mamanuca group, Vatulele, Kadavu and nearby smaller islands, western and northern Viti Levu, Bua Province and Macuata province.

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Related News:

• First Tropical Cyclone of 2023 to Hit New Zealand (NZ Herald)
  
• Tropical Cyclone Hale Expected To Bring Severe Weather to New Zealand (NewsHub)
  
• North Islanders to have More Severe Weather (WeatherWatch)
  
• South Pacific Cyclone Season 2022/2023:  Up to 10 Cyclones Predicted (Noonsite)
  
• Fiji Met Service – Tropical Cyclone Outlook 2022/2023
  
• NIWA – South West Pacific Tropical Cyclone Outlook 2022/2023
  
• BOM – Australian Tropical Cyclone Outlook 2022/2023
  
• BOM – Tropical Season Outlook for the Coral Sea 2022/2023
  

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Related Links:

• Fiji Meteorological Service
  
• WeatherWatch
  
• NZ Metservice
  

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Noonsite has not independently verified this information.

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