A tropical storm has today formed near Vanuatu and reliable US and European computer models show this storm tracking directly towards New Zealand this Friday and weekend.

Some pick the storm hitting Northland while others show it brushing East Cape to our east.

Either way the forecasts show a very deep tropical low which has a moderate to high risk (based on today’s data) of bringing severe weather to New Zealand later this week.

As for the week ahead though – mostly dry and sunny thanks to a large high currently moving in.