High chance severe Cyclone Winston heads towards Tonga

Tropical Cyclone Winston which formed early Wednesday at west-northwest of Suva, Fiji was on its way to the north of New Zealand this afternoon when it made an almost U-turn and on its current track it could strike Tonga.

WeatherWatch New Zealand said this afternoon Cyclone Winston has ramped up into a severe tropical cyclone and is now a Category 4 system.

It was expected it Ā “will increase the chances of more dangerous beach conditions reaching New Zealand”.

WeatherWatch said ā€œthe cyclone itself is likely to actually swing back north, after tracking south, so it poses no direct threat to New Zealandā€ .

ā€œHowever this swing back north in a few days may impact Tonga – and help set up very humid airflow down into New Zealand later next weekā€.

Winston has central air pressure of 947hPa this morning and has sustained winds of 175km/h and is still strengthening, expected to get 185km/h today, with gusts well over 200km/h.

Meanwhile Tropical Cyclone Tatiana remains a Category 1 cyclone in the Coral Sea and should lose it’s cyclone status this weekend.

Meanwhile Tongaā€™s Met Services has issued a heavy rain warning for Tongatapu,’Eua and Ha’apai this afternoon.

It said a trough lies slow moving to the southwest of Tongatapu and ‘Eua, associated clouds and rain may affect parts of the group.

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