A cyclone that will be very short lived formed overnight north east of New Zealand.  The cyclone – which was not predicted to form by cyclone authorities in Fiji – is currently a weak category 1 tropical cyclone called Zaka.  It is not expected to strengthen much further and is unlikely to remain a cyclone for the rest of today.

While the path of this low is expected to track near Gisborne it currently poses no significant threat to New Zealand due to it’s predicted weakening.

Last Wednesday WeatherWatch.co.nz said the tropics north of New Zealand would be cyclone free for up to a week.  “We made it 5 days” said head weather analyst Philip Duncan.  “Not quite a week, but it certainly highlights how unstable things currently are in the south west Pacific”.

Yesterday the Fiji Meteorological Service said the chance of a cyclone forming in their region was “very low”.  Late last night they upgraded that to “high”.

“On a scale of cyclones this is absolutely at the bottom.  We knew there was a small depression and the difference between it being a small tropical storm and technically becoming a small cyclone was actually only a wind increase of a few kilometers an hour.  It’s very borderline”.

Tracking for the low – which WeatherWatch.co.nz has been monitoring since last week – remains the same, with it passing near East Cape on Wednesday bringing some rain to the north’easter tip of the North Island.

The low is so insignificant that MetService doesn’t even have East Cape in their Severe Weather Outlook.