Tropics

Summer continues to back-fire as more cloud, wind and low temperatures affect a number of regions yet again - but WeatherWatch.co.nz says there's still enough time for things to warm up further...but only just.

Fourteen people were killed and another 60 were injured in Indonesia over a four-day period as a result of Cyclone Iggy, according to the country's National Disaster Management Agency.

Deadly slips and flooding continue to affect Fiji while Queensland and now New South Wales are facing torrential rain as tropical and sub-tropical rain makers start to head south.

WeatherWatch.co.nz says conditions have stepped up significantly in the past two weeks across the tropics and now it's heading further south, closer to New Zealand.

A family of four has died under a landslide in Fiji, as forecasters predict lingering torrential rain in the flood-battered region.

Police told FBC News a 35-year-old father, 30-year-old mother and their two daughters, aged three and one, were buried alive under the landslide in Ba on the island of Viti Levu yesterday morning.

New Zealanders in a flood-ridden area of Fiji have been evacuated from their resort on Denarau Island by helicopter.

The tourist complex built on an artificial set of islands was evacuated after growing concern for the area by officials.

It hasn't even become a tropical storm yet but already WeatherWatch.co.nz forecasters say a developing low near Tonga is one for New Zealanders to watch.

The Fiji Meteorological Service says the tropical disturbance has a moderate chance of becoming a tropical cyclone in the next few days.

UPDATED 6:56pm -- Cyclone Fina is no longer technically a tropical cyclone.  As expected Australia's Bureau of Meteorology downgraded it to a tropical low this afternoon, following the the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre downgrading it earlier today.  But the storm still poses a risk to New Zealand.

In our last weather video of 2011 Philip Duncan looks at where Cyclone Fina current lies and where it is heading (our way - but more as a rain event than a storm at this stage).

Developing Story --- Australia's Bureau of Meteorology expects a tropical low in the Coral Sea to become the first tropical cyclone of the South West Pacific cyclone season late Wednesday or early Thursday.

Philip Duncan and nzherald.co.nz team up to bring you the latest on the weather around the country.

At the moment a large high is drifting towards New Zealand from the Tasman Sea while at the same time a low is forming in the Coral Sea to our north west.