New Zealand has been spared a direct hit from an ex-Tropical Cyclone for 15 years and counting reports WeatherWatch.co.nz.

Tropical Cyclones Fergus and Drena caused major damage and flooding in the height of camping season back in the summer of 1996 and 1997 and were shortly following by cyclone Gavin, but that cyclone failed to make a direct hit.

Going further back it was 1988 when Cyclone Bola hit.

While technically these storms are no longer “tropical cyclone” status by the time they reach New Zealand (due to our location south of the tropics) they do still retain cyclone name and status for media and public awareness purposes.

NIWA says cyclones have a higher chance of hitting New Zealand during “neutral” seasons – and not La Nina or El Nino – despite the increased risk of rain making sub-tropical lows during this summer’s La Nina.

While the cyclone didn’t get much press coverage, it was Tropical Cyclone Tasha that brought the flooding to Queensland.  The storm was only briefly a cyclone and was at the lower end of the category 1 status – the weakest out of 5 categories. However the intense flooding shows that even the weakest cyclones can cause catastrophic damage.

When Katrina hit New Orleans it was a Category 3 Hurricane, down from Category 5.   Localised geographical attributes make up a big part on how damaging a cyclone, or tropical storm, can be.

Various computer models are currently showing the south west Pacific becoming more and more active as we head into the “true” cyclone season, which tends to be January to March, when sea waters and daytime temperatures are at their hottest, says WeaherWatch.co.nz.

There is no current tropical cyclone threat anywhere around New Zealand or the Coral Sea – however a thunderstorm can turn into a cyclone in just a matter of days under the right conditions.