Gita’s long journey
Cyclone Gita has been around, in some form, for a fortnight, reports
For more than a fortnight meteorologists have been watching the weather system now swooping across New Zealand, bringing heavy rain, damaging winds and coastal flooding.
Overnight Monday, Gita transitioned from a tropical cyclone to a mid-latitude low and is now referred to as a former cyclone. Its centre was moving rapidly southeast and was due to hit the area around Farewell Spit and Westport about 7 – 8pm on Tuesday.
Heavy rain started falling overnight Monday in the lower North Island and early morning Tuesday in the upper South Island, while winds would strengthen during the afternoon across the country, with gusts of up to
150kmh possible in areas close to the centre.
Gita’s arrival in this country came more than a fortnight after meteorologists first started watching its development.
On February 3 – just days after the remains of Tropical Cyclone Fehi had smashed their way across New Zealand – the Fiji Meteorological Service started to monitor what was then known as tropical disturbance 07F (TD07F). It had developed within a trough of low pressure, about 435km southeast of Honiara, Solomon Islands.
As explained in Wikipedia, over the next couple of days the system moved erratically near northern Vanuatu. The public was alerted to the possibility of a growing threat by the Fiji Meteorological Service on February 5. At that time TD07F remained slow moving over Vanuatu. It was given a moderate to high potential of developing into a tropical depression in the next 72 hours.
‘‘All communities are advised to remain prepared, be updated with the latest weather information and take alerts and warnings seriously as and when