The word needs to go out that fishing boats and any passenger ships need to put into the nearest port.

New Zealand is at 11 o'clock. Any such storm in the southern ocean is no match for anyone. There are no land masses to curtail the water's motion.

To left:
Antarctica Water Vapor Composite (click here for24 hour loop )
December 30, 2017
2100 utc

Dangerous waves (click here) are set to hit New Zealand's western coastline on New Year's Day and they may be so high fishers and boaties could be in peril.

Beachgoers are being warned to expect incre

asing large and powerful swells that will rapidly double in height at North and South Island beaches throughout the day.

To right, New Zealand is in the high-pressure trough.
East Australia Water Vapor Satellite (click here)
December 31, 2017
0130z

Metservice said the dangerous swells will suddenly arrive in sets with the potential to catch those near the water by surprise.

Fishing off rocks and crossing West Coast bars by boat may prove too hazardous for the next couple of days.

MetService said the waves had been generated from a deep storm in the Southern Ocean and driven by westerly gales roaring across the ocean south of Australia.

The long period waves would begin arriving in New Zealand waters on New Year's Day before rapidly getting larger.

MetService said if you were planning a west coast beach mission it would best to go to a patrolled beach.

Himawari-9 (click here for 24 hour loop)
December 30, 2017

1600 utc

The intensity is due to the heat transfer from Indonesia. It is not the Antarctica vortex that is the problem. This is a heat transfer event into Antarctica. It is summer there. Any heat transfer can have high winds that cause a change in the air surface interface with the oceans.