Families heading to beaches on New Zealand’s east coast are being warned to watch out for bigger waves and stronger rips in the early part of the coming week.
NIWA has said that while the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Tino will pass well east of New Zealand, there will be no direct impact on the country’s weather.
But there is a concern that swells in the seas will be larger than normal, with waves of up to 3 metres expected to hit areas that were usually calm.
“Monday and Tuesday are set to bring the best conditions to catch a clean wave or two with some lingering waves on Wednesday,” NIWA’s Facebook said.
The cyclone-gerenated swell will be “long period swell”, NIWA said.
However, there was also a warning to families with children still on summer holidays.
“If you’re heading to the beach with little ones next week keep an eye on the bigger waves and stronger rips.”
WeatherWatch New Zealand also said families should pay heed to the conditions on the day.
“These offshore storms can be very dangerous to beachgoers, especially when the weather on land is likely to be hot and sunny at many beaches – masking the new risks forming in the water.
“While increased swells may not be that great compared to the more rugged West Coast storms even an additional metre or so of wave height could create much more difficulty swimming with younger and older people and weaker swimmers etc, especially in beaches which may traditionally been seen as ‘safe’ and ‘calm’,” its website said.
Cyclone Tino has already brought winds of up to 180 kmh and torrential rain to parts of Tonga but it had weakened and moved out of the area and cyclone warnings had now ceased.
There had been no reported casualties or deaths from the storm but many areas in Ha’apai remained without power today.
Stuff Limited