A large ring of gale to severe gale force winds will be circling around the North Island on Tuesday morning as the centre of ex-cyclone June spreads across much of the central part of the island.

“Now that June isn’t a cyclone there is no ‘eye’ but the centre of the storm is fairly calm with a belt of severe gales spinning around it” says head weather analyst Philip Duncan.

“As we go through Tuesday morning the centre of the ex-cyclone will drop south east over the North Island crossing Auckland, lying over central then eastern areas of the North Island into the afternoon.  Many of these areas may experience a period of calm to fairly calm weather as the centre of the low moves through”.

But Mr Duncan says as June drops south, so too will the gales, pushing them into more populated areas.
WeatherWatch.co.nz says that gales, with some isolated damaging gusts, may break branches, snap powerlines and cause some smaller scale damage.

At this stage WeatherWatch.co.nz doesn’t expect widespread damage from June, adding that this system is significantly weaker than Cyclone Wilma which hit the upper North Island three years ago this month causing millions of dollars of damage.

Gales are expected across the upper North Island on Tuesday and government forecaster MetService has also issued a number of wind warnings for these areas, with watches in force for possible severe gales around central New Zealand, including Wellington.

The storm is no longer a cyclone but still has similar wind speeds to a low end tropical storm.

By Wednesday June will be clearing New Zealand and joining forces with a low in the Southern Ocean, which will help fuel windier sou’westers over the nation for another day or so.

As for rain, it’s been fairly patchy over Monday.  Some farmers have told WeatherWatch.co.nz they’ve been disappointed with the small amount of rain that has fallen in some areas, adding that the predicted strong winds may even reverse what good has already fallen from the sky.

– Image / 7am wind map for Tuesday shows the calmer centre of June moving over land while a ring of gales spins around the North Island / map by Weathermap

– WeatherWatch.co.nz