Storms In New Zealand

New Zealand because of its location and topography experiences a wide rang of weather events, form the normal seasonal to the severe destructive forces of Tropical Storms.  On average Northern New Zealand is struck by one Cyclone a year.  Since the Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean located about 32 degrees south of the equator, the area has the possibility of being hit by these storms.  This is due to the fact that there is a stronger Coriolis effect on this area and the water temperatures are warmer because they are closer to the equator.

Cyclone Wilma 

 Two of the worst Cyclones in New Zealand are cyclones Wilma hitting in 20011 and Bola hitting in 1998.  Wilma hit the coast of the the Northern Island as a Category 4 Cyclone, having wind speeds of 186 mph.  The rainfall and storm surges on the island reached 50 year flood  proportions, causing 19 million dollars in damages.  Bola was a weaker categorical storm but caused large amount of damage because of the rainfall, which in one area was about 14 inches.  The large amounts of rain ended up causing 82 million dollars worth of damage.

New Zealand also experience a large number of Tornadoes a year.  This is because of New Zealand mountain ranges and its proximity to the ocean it has the two ingredients to cause severe thunderstorms.  As the moist air coming from the ocean up mountains causes these thunder storms.  When these are combined with a jet stream the tornadoes occur.  These tornadoes are usually narrow with short tracks, and scale from and F0-F2 on the Fujima scale; the worst one occurring in 1948 killing 3 and injuring 80.

Tornado on Northern Island

work cited link: http://easybib.com/cite/view

Works Cited

"Current Weather Situation Latest Forecast Cyclone Reports, and Hurricane,flood Images." : New Zealand's Hit by Tornado. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. <http://abobora-oca.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-zealands-hit-by-tornado.html>.

"Cyclone Bola." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Dec. 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Bola>.

"Severe Tropical Cyclone Wilma (2011)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 07 Sept. 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_Tropical_Cyclone_Wilma_(2011)>.

"Tornadoes of Australia and New Zealand." For Strong Winds:. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. <http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/storm/tornadoes-aunzea.htm>.

Wilma. Digital image. Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wilma_26_jan.jpg>.