MetService is closely monitoring Tropical Cyclone Fili, currently swirling to the south of New Caledonia. The remnants of Tropical Cyclone Fili are forecast to track southwards towards Aotearoa New Zealand next week, but before then settled weather will persist across the country this weekend.

The Fiji Meteorological Service is currently responsible for forecasting the movement and intensity of Tropical Cyclone Fili in the South Pacific. Fili is currently a Category 2 system and is forecast to track southeast over the next few days before weakening and becoming slow moving.

MetService meteorologist Ashlee Parkes explains, “If Fili retains its Tropical Cyclone status as it moves south of 25°, the Fiji Meteorological Service will officially handover responsibility of the system to MetService, and we will begin issuing track maps for Fili. Even if Fili is no longer a Tropical Cyclone, we will continue to closely monitor its remnants as it tracks southwards towards the country.”

Current models suggest that the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Fili will track southwards and approach Aotearoa New Zealand on Wednesday. Northern and eastern regions of the North Island, including Gisborne, look to be most at risk of seeing possible severe weather. There is still a lot of uncertainty regarding the movement and intensity of this system as it heads towards our waters, so people are urged to keep up to date with the latest MetService forecast on our website.

Before then, most of Aotearoa New Zealand will see settled weather to end the working week and during the weekend.

“A southerly flow across the country means minimum overnight temperatures will be a bit cooler than usual tonight (Thursday), with only a handful of places maintaining double digits. Taupō has a forecast minimum of 2°C tonight, and Twizel a mere 0°C. These temperatures mean we may see some light frosts in central areas of both islands on Friday morning,” adds Parkes.

However, temperatures bounce back to average during the weekend, and most areas will see fine weather, apart from a few light showers across some coastal areas, as well as areas of morning and evening cloud.

Looking ahead to the beginning of next week, a cold front will move onto the lower South Island during Monday. Parkes elaborates, “This front will become slow moving over the South Island next week as the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Fili farther north slows its movement. This front may bring some respite to dry conditions in Southland, but forecast accumulations look small compared to the deficit in rain since the beginning of this year.”

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