Tropical Cyclone Zelia has been upgraded further overnight to a category 3 storm, making her now a “severe” tropical storm reports WeatherWatch.co.nz.
The storm is expected to maintain category 3 status for another 24 hours before dropping to category 1 again once she leaves the tropics and passes over cooler waters in the Tasman Sea according to Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology.
Zelia is still on track to reach New Zealand from Tuesday onwards.
Graphic: The future track of Zelia / BOM
Zelia now has sustained hurricane force winds (120km/h) with gusts to 165km/h. Zelia is comparable to a category 1 hurricane using the better known Saffir-Simpson scale, used to measure hurricanes in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific.
– WeatherWatch.co.nz
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Guest on 15/01/2011 7:24pm
This is one to watch but losing impetus soon it seems 🙁
Just wondering if you have a timescale on when other forecasts are coming? I’ve been crossing my fingers for a bit now!
Thanks
SG
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WW Forecast Team on 15/01/2011 11:15pm
HI there,
Please see our latest story on the homepage. We are thinking this is less likely to be a significant national event but that some regions could still face flooding and wind damage. Still one to watch very closely though as it definitely has the potential to be nasty.
– WeatherWatch Weekends
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