Cyclone Donna breaks records

After battering Vanuatu at the weekend, Cyclone Donna has gone on to become the strongest May cyclone ever to hit the southern hemisphere.

News channel CCN said the Pacific cyclone spiked at category 5 - the strongest category - yesterday morning (NZ time).

CNN told New Zealand weather forecasting site Weatherwatch - an affiliate of the news network - it had measured sustained winds of 215 kilometres an hour, with gusts up to 260kmh.

Earlier yesterday, Donna was consistently hitting wind speeds of 175kmh, which put it on par with 1986’s Cyclone Nadu - the strongest May cyclone on record in the South Pacific. The storm surpassed that record later yesterday morning.

As the cyclone originated in the Pacific, and currently sat north of New Caledonia, Fiji Meteorological Service was responsible for releasing official measurements such as wind speeds and pressure.

Weatherwatch head forecaster Philip Duncan said Fiji Met Service may have missed yesterday morning’s spike as its updates were limited to six set times across the day whereas CNN live-tracked global storms, giving constant updates.

The cyclone was expected to hover around the category 4 mark, and possibly spike up to 5.

The Pacific cyclone season officially ended on April 30, so it was unusual to have a cyclone forming in May - especially a storm of this strength, Duncan said.

Fiji Met Service said the storm’s pressure fell overnight to 948hpa.

Donna was continuing to bring damaging winds and seas to parts of Vanuatu after hitting islands to the north of the group, then moving to the west of most of the group.

Fiji Met Service said it was expected to track south towards New Caledonia.

Metservice meteorologist Brian Mercer said it was still too early to say what impact Donna might have on New Zealand.

There was a chance it could move over the country tomorrow and Thursday. Depending on the track of the system, it could bring strong winds to some areas.

‘‘Even if the centre of the storm doesn’t move over the country, we will still get some rain associated with it,’’ Mercer said.