Cyclone Yali

After it was named Yali re-curved and started moving towards the south-southeast, as the monsoonal flow to the north of the system strengthened.

While the system was active, Yali affected Vanuatu and New Caledonia before the extra-tropical remnants impacted New Zealand where a man was killed and widespread power outages and damage were reported.

[1] The disturbance was slowly moving south-southwestwards, along the steering flow of a weak mid-level ridge of high pressure in between Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.

[1][2] Over the following day, the Fiji Meteorological Service started to monitor the disturbance, as a well defined area of low pressure, while the JTWC subsequently initiated advisories and designated the system as Tropical Cyclone 29P.

[3][4] The newly named tropical cyclone subsequently started to move south-eastwards, as the monsoonal steering flow to the north of the system increased.

[5] Later that day, the FMS followed suit and reported that Yali had peaked with 10-minute sustained wind speeds of 130 km/h (80 mph), which made it a Category 3 severe tropical cyclone.

After passing south of New Caledonia, an upper-level low picked up the cyclone and induced cold air into the atmospheric circulation.

[6] Early on March 25, Yali had lost its tropical characteristics as an upper-level low captured the system, with cold air working around the northern and western sides of the circulation.

[9] Other places in Vanuatu only received minor damage,[6] though Yali caused heavy rainfall and flooding throughout the island group and affected residents in low-lying areas and close to river banks.

[6] Cyclone Yali passed just to the south of New Caledonia during March 23 and affected the Loyalty Islands, Isle of Pines and the southern half of Grande Terre.

[10] Upon striking New Zealand as an extratropical storm, it caused high seas and flooding over parts of the South Island, notably around Westport and Nelson.

Map plotting the storm's track and intensity, according to the Saffir–Simpson scale
Map key
Tropical depression (≤38 mph, ≤62 km/h)
Tropical storm (39–73 mph, 63–118 km/h)
Category 1 (74–95 mph, 119–153 km/h)
Category 2 (96–110 mph, 154–177 km/h)
Category 3 (111–129 mph, 178–208 km/h)
Category 4 (130–156 mph, 209–251 km/h)
Category 5 (≥157 mph, ≥252 km/h)
Unknown
Storm type
triangle Extratropical cyclone , remnant low, tropical disturbance, or monsoon depression