More than 880 000 lightning strikes have been recorded over the Tasman Sea in 24 hours to Tuesday, March 7, 2023. This weather system is moving toward New Zealand’s South Island and is forecast to eventually move up to the North Island late in the week.
February 2023 was a month of extremes for New Zealand’s weather and climate. While some parts of the North Island received at least 400% of their normal February rainfall and experienced the 2nd wettest summer on record, the South Island faced below-normal rainfall and the 5th driest summer on record. Cyclone Gabrielle brought destructive winds and historic extreme rainfall, resulting in widespread destruction and loss of life. The nationwide average temperature was 1.1 °C (2 °F) above the February average, making it the 3rd warmest summer on record. Despite the heavy rainfall, some locations experienced high sunshine hours.
MetService, the national weather agency of New Zealand, issued an Orange Warning for Heavy Rain for the Hawke’s Bay region, as a complex weather system continues to affect the country. The agency has grave concerns for vulnerable areas due to the already saturated terrain.
New Zealand’s North Island has been severely impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle over the past couple of days, with floods, landslides, and ocean swells leaving many people stranded on rooftops. The storm, which caused extensive damage to homes and infrastructure, also closed numerous roads, canceled hundreds of flights, and left about 225 000 people without power. At least 4 people have been killed.
Despite being downgraded from a tropical cyclone, Gabrielle is intensifying and spreading strong winds and heavy rain across a wider area affecting the whole of the North Island in some way.
Thousands of buildings in New Zealand’s Auckland area are currently unsafe for living after the region was hit by extreme rainfall and severe flooding at the end of January. The amount of rain that fell in a matter of days made January 2023 Auckland’s wettest month in at least the last 170 years. The flooding has put the public’s focus on nature-based alternatives to traditional stormwater systems.
Tropical Cyclone “Gabrielle” has formed in the Coral Sea as the 3rd named storm of the 2023 Australian region cyclone season. The forecast track takes it near Norfolk Island as a severe category 3 before moving toward New Zealand. The cyclone could bring more rounds of heavy rain to parts of North Island, New Zealand, particularly the Auckland area where extremely heavy and record-breaking rainfall amounts were registered recently.
The presence of a low level jet (LLJ), or strong wind in the lower atmosphere, combined with tropical moisture to create persistent heavy rain in the Auckland area on Friday, January 27, 2023, resulting in widespread severe flooding, destruction and casualties.
Tropical Cyclone “Hale” formed on January 7, 2023, as the first named storm of the 2022/23 South Pacific cyclone season. The system tracked into New Zealand’s area of responsibility on January 8 and was reclassified as a tropical low by New Zealand’s MetService.
Significant rain accumulations are expected in the Westland and Buller regions of New Zealand this week, prompting MetService to issue Red Warnings for Heavy Rain for the region.
