WEATHER

WETTER

(WeatherPage with more links to up-to-date data)

The weather in Vava´u is usually a few degrees
warmer than in Tongatapu, because Vava´u
is closer to the Equator.
The seasons are opposite to those in Europe, in
June we have the shortest and in December
the longest day.
Therefore Christmas is in summer and you can unpack your gifts under a blue sky in 35 degrees C
 warm air cooling down in a 32 degrees warm ocean..!

Summer can be very humid, hot and rainy, the
winter is usually quite dry. There is always a lot of sun,
unfortunately sometimes also strong winds and
heavy rain.

The temperatures differ between fresh 16 C (at night)
and comfortable 25-27 C in winter. Summer can be
humid and very hot (38 C in the house).
But there is always a fresh breeze from the sea.

Vava´u is placed in the hurricane-belt of the pacific.
These storms are called cyclones. Cyclone-season is
between November and April, during these month
we experience strong winds, sometimes from
passing-by cyclones. Then we have a few
days with warm rain and wind, almost like the
spring-weather in Europe!

Do not let these informations cancel your trip to
Vava´u, finally nothing is a dangerous as it
sounds and we never had any casualties from
a storm.

Those storm are more inconvinient than dangerous.

The last cyclone passed with his eye over Vava´u on
New Years Eve 2001 and was devastating.
Whole houses literally flew away and the complete harvest and all fruit trees were gone. We had no loss of
human lifes, but the economical and ecological
damage in this region was a catastrophy.

In the right column please find the satellite-photo of that cyclone called "Waka" and the cyclone warning from
Fiji (later on the storm developed windspeeds of
178 knots (apprx. 350 km/h).
 More informations on "Waka" can be found at
www.worldtrip.de.

A direct hit from a cyclone is extremly rare, and so
far they stick to the predictions of the statistics who
forecast a cyclone every 20 years.

If you have any special questions or hints
please use the
Blackboard
to exchange experiences.

(Wetterseite mir mehr aktuellen Daten)

Das Wetter in Vava´u ist in der Regel einige Grad
wärmer als in Tongatapu, da Vava´u näher zum
Äquator liegt.
Die Jahreszeiten sind denen aus
Deutschland gegensätzlich, im Juni haben wir hier
den kürzesten und im Dezember den längsten Tag;
Weihnachten liegt also im Hochsommer, und
man kann seine Geschenke bei strahlendem
Sonnenschein, 35 Grad warmer Luft und sich in
32 Grad warmem Wasser abkühlend
auspacken..!

Der Hochsommer kann schwülheiß und regenreich
 sein, der Winter ist meist relativ trocken. Sonne gibt es
immer reichlich, leider auch manchmal heftige
Stürme und sintflutartige Regenfälle.

Die Temperaturen schwanken im Winter zwischen
frischen 16 Grad (nachts) und angenehmen 25-27
Grad. Der Sommer kann schwül und sehr heiß sein
(38 C im Haus).
Meist weht eine frische Seebrise.

Vava´u liegt im Wirbelsturmgürtel des südlichen
Pazifik, hier heißen die Stürme Zyklone.
Zyklonsaison ist normalerweise zwischen November
und April, in dieser Zeit kann es zu kräftigen Stürmen
(Zyklonausläufern) in Vava´u kommen, dann gibt
es ein paar Tage warmen Regen und Wind, also
fast wie in Deutschland im Frühjahr!

Lassen Sie sich hierdurch keinesfalls von einer
Reise nach Vava´u abschrecken-letzlich
ist alles nur halb so wild und bisher ist
noch kein Mensch zu Schaden gekommen.

Diese Stürme sind mehr unangenehm als gefährlich.

Der letzte Zyklon raste am 31.12. 2001 mit seinem
Auge über Vava´u und verursachte erhebliche
Schäden. Komplette Häuser flogen
buchstäblich weg und die gesamte Ernte war
vernichtet, die Versorgungslage war sehr schlecht.
Menschenleben gab es keine zu beklagen, doch der
wirtschaftliche Schaden in dieser ohnehin
schwachen Region war katastrophal.



Dieser Zyklon hieß "Waka". Weitere Infos
zu diesem Sturm gibt es bei www.worldtrip.de.
Diese direkten Treffer von Zyklonen sind sehr selten,
bisher haben sie sich an das statistische Mittel
von 20 Jahren gehalten.
Nachfolgend die damalige Warnung aus Fiji, der
Sturm entwickelte später Geschwindigkeiten von
178 Knoten (ca. 350 km/h):

Special Weather Bulletin Number THIRTEEN for Tonga on TROPICAL CYCLONE WAKA issued from RSMC NADI
Dec 30/2348 UTC 2001.

A HURRICANE WARNING IS NOW IN FORCE FOR VAVA'U, HA'APAI, KOTU AND NOMUKA GROUPS.

TROPICAL CYCLONE WAKA WAS LOCATED NEAR 16.0 SOUTH 175.6 WEST OR ABOUT 30 MILES SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF NIUAFO'OU OR 100 MILES WEST OF NIUATOPUTAPU OR 180 MILES NORTHWEST OF VAVAU AT 302300 UTC.

CLOSE TO ITS CENTRE THE CYCLONE IS EXPECTED TO HAVE AVERAGE WINDS UP TO 80KT WITH MOMENTARY GUSTS TO 110KT. THE CYCLONE IS MOVING SOUTH-SOUTHEAST ABOUT 08 TO 10 KT. ON ITS CURRENT TRACK THE CENTRE IS EXPECTED TO LIE ABOUT 120 MILES TO THE NORTHWEST OF VAVA'U BY 311200 UTC. VERY DESTRUCTIVE HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO BEGIN A FEW HOURS BEFORE THE CYCLONE PASSES NEARBY OR OVERHEAD.

FOR NIUAFO'OU: VERY DESTRUCTIVE HURRICANE FORCE WINDS WITH AVERAGE SPEEDS TO 80KT WITH GUSTS TO 110KT GRADUALLY ABATING. FREQUENT HEAVY RAIN WITH SQUALLY THUNDERSTORMS. PHENOMINAL SEAS. VERY DAMAGING HEAVY SWELLS.

WINDS GRADUALLY INCREASING TO VERY DESTRUCTIVE HURRICANE FORCE WINDS WITH AVERAGE SPEEDS TO 80KT AND GUSTS TO 110KT FROM EARLY TOMORROW MORNING. FREQUENT HEAVY RAIN WITH SQUALLY THUNDERSTORMS. PHENOMINAL SEAS. VERY DAMAGING HEAVY SWELLS.

DAMAGING GALE FORCE WINDS WITH AVERAGE SPEEDS TO 45 KNOTS WITH GUSTS TO 65 KNOTS. FREQUENT HEAVY RAIN WITH SQUALLY THUNDERSTORMS. VERY HIGH TO PHENOMINAL SEAS. VERY DAMAGING HEAVY SWELLS.

FOR TONGATAPU GROUP : WINDS GRADUALLY INCREASING TO DAMAGING GALE FORCE WITH AVERAGE SPEEDS TO 45KT AND GUSTS TO 65KT BY TOMORROW MORNING. PERIODS OF HEAVY RAIN WITH SQUALLY THUNDERSTORMS. HIGH SEAS. VERY DAMAGING HEAVY SWELLS.

THE NEXT SPECIAL WEATHER BULLETIN FOR TONGA WILL BE ISSUED AROUND 310230 UTC.

Bei weiteren Fragen und Hinweisen
nutzen Sie bitte das
Schwarze Brett
um aktuelle Erfahrungen auszutauschen.