Severe Weather Warning display changes

Improvements to the display of Severe Weather Warnings on metservice.com and the NZ Weather app.

MetService has improved how Severe Weather Warnings appear on our website and app. Warnings will now show only on the forecast pages and app locations that are most relevant for the warning, instead of on all forecast locations within a region.  

This is not a change to how we issue warnings, just how we display them on metservice.com and the NZ Weather app.

For now, road snowfall and swell warning mapping to forecast locations won't change, but we plan to improve this in future.  

What's changed?

This change builds on the polygon-based warning system introduced in 2019 and helps reduce unnecessary alerts by refining how we use these polygons to match warnings to forecast areas, we aim to: 

  • Make the warnings you see more relevant to you.

  • Reduced the number of warnings you see for your location.

  • Make it so when you see a warning, you’ll know it’s meant for you and that you need to act.

What’s next?

Road snowfall and Wellington region swell warnings are manually matched to locations that might need to know about the warning, e.g., Crown Range road snowfall warnings will show on the Queenstown forecast page as travel to and from Queenstown may be affected. These matching rules will remain unchanged for now. but may be reviewed in the future.

Do I need to do anything?

No. Just continue to use metservice.com or the NZ Weather app as usual, to view the most relevant and up-to-date Weather Warnings for your location.

However, if you are travelling to a different part of the region eg. from Wellington City to the Tararua Ranges or from New Plymouth to Taranaki Maunga, make sure to check the forecast for the location you are travelling to, there may have a Severe Weather Warning there that won’t affect your location.

What does the change look like?

The example below shows a Severe Weather Watch for heavy rain that has been issued for the ranges near Nelson, but not Nelson City and the Nelson City forecast page before and after the change.

Before:

The Watch appears on the Nelson forecast page because it overlaps the Nelson regional forecast area.

Now:

The Watch does not appear on the Nelson forecast page because it does not cover any part of the city of Nelson.

Frequently asked questions

  • We’ve improved how Severe Weather Warnings are displayed on our website and the NZ Weather app. Previously, warnings affecting a forecast region were shown on all locations within that region.  Now, warnings will only appear on forecast pages and app locations that are likely to be directly affected, making them more relevant to you. 

  • No. This change only affects how warnings are displayed on metservice.com and the NZ Weather app. The process for issuing warnings remains exactly the same. 

  • This update is part of our ongoing effort to: 

    • Make warnings more relevant and specific to your location 

    • Reduce unnecessary alerts and user desensitisation 

    • Strengthen public trust in our warnings

  • Not yet. Road snowfall and Wellington region swell warnings are manually matched to locations that might need to know about the warning, e.g., Crown Range road snowfall warnings will show on the Queenstown forecast page as travel to and from Queenstown may be affected. These matching rules will remain unchanged for now. but may be reviewed in the future.

  • Introduced in 2019, the polygon-based warning system allows us to define more precise geographical areas for warnings. These are the shapes that appear on the severe weather map at www.metservice.com/warnings. This change builds on that system by refining how those polygons are matched to specific forecast locations.

  • You’ll now only see Severe Weather Warnings that are most relevant to the forecast location you're viewing, whether on the website or the app. This means fewer alerts and clearer, more accurate information for your area. 

  • No action is needed from you. Just continue to use metservice.com or the NZ Weather app as usual to view the most relevant and up-to-date weather warnings for your location.  

    However, if you are travelling to a different part of the region eg., from Wellington City to the Tararua Ranges, make sure to check the forecast for the location you are travelling to as they may have a Severe Weather Warning, when Wellington city does not.