Updated 8:26pm Sunday — Australian forecasters have named the storm in the Coral Sea “Ruby” after reaching tropical cyclone status on Sunday afternoon.

#8PM NZDT: "Fine tuning" of tracking continues with Tropical Cyclone #RUBY.@BOM_au has again returned to the "Severe" Category 3 possibility for #NouvelleCalédonie.#LaNina does to #cyclones what a drought does to bush fires – it adds fuel to the "fire". #EnergyToBurn #TCRuby pic.twitter.com/7o5LQrb2QR

— WeatherWatch.co.nz (@WeatherWatchNZ) December 12, 2021

The storm may strengthen to “severe” Category 3 Tropical Cyclone status with destructive winds. However low pressure zones in the New Zealand and Tasman Sea areas will siphon some energy from this tropical storm, helping to create an ‘atmospheric river’ over parts of New Zealand this week. This is when a highway of tropical moisture is funnelled into a narrow area over a period of time, increasing the risks of flooding.

We have more details here about how the lows this week will complicate the future of the cyclone as it gets closer to New Zealand and rain may be more of an issue than wind.

Latest modelling shows the remnants of the cyclone tracking very close to East Cape on Thursday night or Friday. However the other low pressure zones in the NZ area already are likely to trigger a burst of wind and heavy rain two days earlier, around Tuesday and Wednesday.

It's easy to think NZ may be outside the risk zone based on the tracking maps – but even when the cyclone is far from us over New Caledonia it's expected to help link rain up with New Zealand. It's a complicated set up with severe weather risks this week.https://t.co/gb7E1qcpZ3 pic.twitter.com/uLYE3UWWBw

— WeatherWatch.co.nz (@WeatherWatchNZ) December 12, 2021

• WeatherWatch.co.nz