7 pm Wednesday (Vanuatu): The Fiji Meteorological Service's latest warning (No. 22) for Cyclone PAM has two important changes-- both of them bad news for Vanuatu: 1) They've shifted the forecast track closer to Vanuatu and 2) they now forecast it to be Cat 5 as it passes near Port Vila and the islands to the S. One good thing: even with large cyclones (like PAM), you have to be pretty close to the center to get the really intense winds. On this map, for example, you can see that the hurricane-force winds (red) are restricted to a tight ring around the center. Hopefully this misses the more populated islands. If you live in Vanuatu, PREPARE NOW. At this point, there isn't as much threat to New Caledonia or Fiji. New Zealand might experience some impacts later on, but from a much-weakened system.
H. REMARKS...OW EYE IS EMBEDDED IN...AND SURROUNDED BY...CDG RESULTING IN A DT OF 7.5 AFTER 0.5 IS ADDED AS AN EYE ADJUSTMENT. PT AND MET AGREE. FT IS BASED ON DT.