We generally know what weather is coming here in New Zealand, it can be seen a long way off, out of the Southern Ocean, the Coral Sea, or off Australia. Timing and severity can be off, but the News and Weather like to err on the side of drama, so it's not usually worse than predicted.
It's summer here, but also the cyclone season. Last week we got hit with the remains of an old cyclone, still a pretty severe storm though. Tourists were cut off by road slips, and had to spend the night in cars, and were helicoptered out the next day. They were on the News, a bit upset and some mouthing off that the emergency services were 3rd World, and more should have been done etc. As the camera was panning, a local came up to one of the tourists who had been on camera and said ''But you knew a storm was coming didn't you ?'' The tourist said ''Oh yes, but we thought....''