Destructive Tropical Cyclone Winston hit parts of Fiji on Friday.  At 10:00 p.m. EST on Friday the center of Tropical Cyclone Winston was located at latitude 17.1°N and longitude 179.6°E which put it about 125 miles (205 km) east-northeast of Suva, Fiji.  The eye was just south of Vanua Levi.  Winston was moving toward the west at 12 m.p.h. (19 km/h).  The maximum sustained wind speed was 185 m.p.h. (295 km/h) which made Winston the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.  There were wind gusts to 225 m.p.h. (360 km/h) and the minimum surface pressure was 903 mb.

Winston is a compact symmetrical tropical cyclone.  It has a very well formed eye with a ring of very strong thunderstorms surrounding the eye.  Several spiral bands curl into the eyewall.  Thunderstorms around the eye are generating strong upper level divergence which pumped out mass and allowed the pressure to decrease rapidly during the past few hours.

Tropical Cyclone Winston is in a nearly perfect environment for a tropical cyclone.  It is over water where the Sea Surface Temperature is near 30°C.  The upper level winds are light and there is almost no vertical wind shear.  Winston could continue to intensify for another 6 to 12 hours.  It is hard for a tropical cyclone to remain as strong as Winston is for an extended period of time.  An eyewall replacement cycle, or movement over one of the large islands of Fiji could disrupt the circulation and cause Winston to weaken.

A subtropical ridge south of Winston is steering the tropical cyclone to the west and that general motion is expected to continue for the next day or two.  On its anticipated track the center of Tropical Cyclone Winston could pass very near the south coast of Vanua Levu and the north coast of Viti Levu.

Winston is an extremely dangerous tropical cyclone.  The Hurricane Intensity Index for Tropical Cyclone Winston is 44.1.  The Hurricane Size Index is 12.9 and the Hurricane Wind Intensity Size Index is 57.0.  These indices mean the Tropical Cyclone Winston is capable of producing regional catastrophic damage.  In addition to wind damage heavy rain will cause inland flooding and storm surges will inundate low lying portions of the coast.  The eye of Winston passed over Vanua Balavu and Yacata earlier on Friday and it is currently just south of Vanua Levi.