Of our 8 days in Fiji, 7 of them had bad weather. The only good weather was the afternoon we arrived and the following morning, and the morning we left. On day 2 it started to rain and over the next 3 days we had 2 tropical lows dump about 20 inches of rain on the island. Much flooding, roads blocked and we were marooned in the Warwick. But it looked like worse was to follow. The top left image is a cloud map of what was following the lows; The 2 main islands of Fiji are outlined centre right. The map shows the last of the lows passing over the big island. We were staying about where the tip of the smaller blob is. The systems were moving from west to east (left to right). You can see a huge cloud mass following. That developed into a Category 3 cyclone, named Zena, heading straight for us. For those not sure what a cyclone is, it is the same thing that is called a hurricane or a typhoon, depending on the country you are in. Fortunately, the cyclone slightly changed track and the worst of it passed just south of us during the night of April 6. The second photo shows the track of the cyclone. The bottom photos show the storm clouds building up in the afternoon and the last one was just before dark. Much rain and the palm trees are all bent backwards to what you see in my other photos. We were told to stay inside, the doors were locked, windows taped, restaurants closed (Hey! I spelt resserterornt right that time), and we waited for the storm. Well, the wind peaked at about 200 kph, coconuts were blowing off the trees like canon balls, and it rained and rained. No bad damage to the Warwick and the next two days were a bit better. My first cyclone and I don't want ever to be any closer to the central path.
Labels: Fiji
# posted by Bart Bear @ 11:55 am
