Tropical Cyclone (TC) Ruby has been named by the Brisbane Tropical Cyclone Warning Center yesterday afternoon as it had developed in their region.

The 6am track map of TC Ruby issued by the Bureau of Meteorology’s Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre in Brisbane is shown below in figure 1 where TC Ruby will cross into Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre- Nadi’s region by this afternoon, i.e. to the west of Vanuatu.

On its forecasted track, TC Ruby is expected to bring periods of heavy rain and gale (65km/h) to storm (100km/h) force winds to majority of New Caledonia including the Loyalty Islands from Tuesday morning.

Hurricane force winds (120km/h) as well as heavy northwest swells and very high seas are expected to affect the western and northern areas of New Caledonia including the Loyalty Islands.

During overnight Tuesday and early Wednesday TC Ruby is expected to affect southern areas of Vanuatu (Tafea province) possibly bringing period of heavy rain, strong to gale (65km/h) force winds, heavy northwest swell and high seas.

During Wednesday, TC Ruby is expected to move away from New Caledonia and Vanuatu and pass to the northeast of the North Islands during Thursday possibly as a CAT 2 system.

Most outlooks suggest the system will track to the north of the North Island during Thursday, although there still remains some uncertainty regarding how close to New Zealand the system will come.

As of now, TC Ruby will not bring any threat to Fiji.

The Fiji Meteorological Service will continue to monitor this weather event and update warnings and forecasts accordingly.

For more information and clarification: please contact the Acting Director of Meteorology, Mr. Terry Atalifo on (679) 9905379 or via email at terry.atalifo@met.gov.fj.