List of Category 5 South Pacific severe tropical cyclones

Category 5 South Pacific severe tropical cyclones are tropical cyclones that reach Category 5 intensity on the Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale within the South Pacific basin. They are by definition the strongest tropical cyclones that can form on Earth. A total of 20 recorded tropical cyclones have peaked at Category 5 strength in the South Pacific tropical cyclone basin, which is denoted as the part of the Pacific Ocean to the south of the equator and to the east of 160°E. 19 of these tropical cyclones have been classified as Category 5 on the Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale, while Severe Tropical Cyclone Anne was estimated to be equivalent to a Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. The earliest tropical cyclone to be classified as a Category 5 severe tropical cyclone was Pam which was classified as a Category 5 between February 3 – 5, 1974, as it moved through the Coral Sea. The latest system to be classified as a Category 5 severe tropical cyclone was Harold, which was classified between April 5- 7, 2020 as it moved through Vanuatu.

Winston at record peak intensity near Fiji on 20 February 2016

Background

The South Pacific tropical cyclone basin is located to the south of the Equator between 160°E and 120°W.[1] The basin is officially monitored by the Fiji Meteorological Service and the New Zealand MetService, while other meteorological services such as the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Meteo France as well as the United States Joint Typhoon Warning Center also monitor the basin.[1] Within the basin a Category 5 severe tropical cyclone is a tropical cyclone that has 10-minute mean maximum sustained wind speeds over 107 knots (198 km/h; 123 mph) or greater on the Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale.[1][2] A named storm could also be classified as a Category 5 tropical cyclone if it is estimated, to have 1-minute mean maximum sustained wind speeds over 137 knots (254 km/h; 158 mph) on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale.[1][3] Within the basin this scale is only officially used in American Samoa, however, systems are commonly compared to the SSHWS using 1-minute sustained windspeeds from the United States Joint Typhoon Warning Center.[1][4][5] On both scales, a Category 5 tropical cyclone is expected to cause widespread devastation, if it significantly impacts land at or near its peak intensity.[2][3]

Systems
Name Dates as a Category 5 Duration Sustained
wind speeds		 Pressure Land areas affected Damage
(USD)		 Deaths Refs
PamFebruary 3 – 5, 19741 day 12 hours205 km/h (125 mph)920 hPa (27.17 inHg)Wallis and Futuna, Vanuatu
New Caledonia, Queensland		SignificantUnknown[6][7]
HinaMarch 15 – 17, 19851 day 12 hours220 km/h (140 mph)910 hPa (26.87 inHg)Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji>$3 million1[8][9][10]
FranMarch 8 – 9, 199218 hours205 km/h (125 mph)920 hPa (27.17 inHg)Wallis and Futuna, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Eastern Australia[11]
RonJanuary 5 – 7, 19982 days 6 hours230 km/h (145 mph)900 hPa (26.58 inHg)Samoa, Wallis and Futuna, Tonga None[12][13]
SusanJanuary 5 – 8, 19983 days230 km/h (145 mph)900 hPa (26.58 inHg)Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji$100 thousand1[13][14][15]
ZoeDecember 27 – 29, 20022 days240 km/h (150 mph)890 hPa (26.28 inHg)Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, FijiSevereNone[16]
BeniJanuary 29, 200312 hours205 km/h (125 mph)920 hPa (27.17 inHg)Solomon Islands, Vanuatu
New Caledonia, Australia		$1 million1[17]
DoviFebruary 8 – 9, 200318 hours205 km/h (125 mph)920 hPa (27.17 inHg)Niue, Cook IslandsMinimalNone[18][19]
EricaMarch 12 – 14, 200318 hours215 km/h (135 mph)915 hPa (27.02 inHg)Queensland, Solomon Islands
Vanuatu, New Caledonia		$15 million2[20]
HetaJanuary 5 – 6, 20041 day 12 hours215 km/h (130 mph)915 hPa (27.02 inHg)Samoan Islands, Niue, Tonga
Wallis and Futuna		$225 million3[21][22][23][24][25]
MeenaFebruary 6, 200518 hours215 km/h (130 mph)915 hPa (27.02 inHg)Cook Islands$20 millionNone[26]
OlafFebruary 6 – 7, 200512 hours215 km/h (130 mph)915 hPa (27.02 inHg)Samoan Islands, Cook Islands$10 millionNone[27]
PercyMarch 1 – 3, 20051 day 12 hours230 km/h (145 mph)900 hPa (26.58 inHg)Tokelau, Samoan Islands, Cook Islands$25 millionNone[28]
UluiMarch 14, 201018 hours215 km/h (130 mph)915 hPa (27.02 inHg)Solomon Islands, VanuatuUnknown1[29][30]
IanJanuary 11, 201418 hours205 km/h (125 mph)930 hPa (27.46 inHg)Fiji, Tonga$48 million1[31][32]
PamMarch 12 – 14, 20152 days 12 hours250 km/h (155 mph)896 hPa (26.46 inHg)Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu
Vanuatu, New Caledonia, New Zealand		$360 million16[33]
WinstonFebruary 18 – 21, 20162 days 18 hours280 km/h (175 mph)884 hPa (26.10 inHg)Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Niue$1.4 billion44[34][35]
DonnaMay 8, 201718 hours205 km/h (125 mph)937 hPa (27.67 inHg)Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji
New Caledonia, New Zealand		$10 million2[36][37]
GitaFebruary 13 – 14, 201811 hours205 km/h (125 mph)927 hPa (27.37 inHg)Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Niue
Wallis and Futuna, Samoan Islands, Tonga		$221 million2[37][38]
HaroldApril 5 – 7, 20201 day 12 hours230 km/h (145 mph)920 hPa (27.17 inHg)Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, TongaSignificant29[39][40]

Other systems

In addition to the tropical cyclones listed above Severe Tropical Cyclone's: Harry, Rewa and Yasi, were considered by the BoM to be category 5 severe tropical cyclone's within the South Pacific Ocean, after they had moved into the Australian region.[41][42][43] The BoM also considered Severe Tropical Cyclone Theodore to have been a Category 5 severe tropical cyclone, within the Australian region before it moved into the basin during February 24, 1994.[44] Severe Tropical Cyclone Anne was estimated to have peaked by the JTWC, with one-minute sustained wind speeds of 260 km/h (160 mph) for six hours during January 11, 1988.[45] This made it equivalent to a Category 5 tropical cyclone on the SSHWS, however, the FMS estimated that the system had peaked with 10-minute sustained winds of 185 km/h (115 mph) based on the Dvorak technique, which made it a Category 4 severe tropical cyclone on the Australian scale.[45][46] During 2017, a study into Category 4 and 5 tropical cyclones over the South Pacific during the 1980s, was published within the Royal Meteorological Society's International Journal of Climatology.[4] This showed that the intensity of such tropical cyclones had been underestimated by the various warning centres during the decade.[4] In particular, the authors estimated that Severe Tropical Cyclone's Oscar and Nisha-Orama had 1-minute sustained winds of 285 km/h (180 mph), which would make them Category 5 tropical cyclone's on the SSHWS.[4]

Land interaction

Off the 20 Category 5 severe tropical cyclones listed above, only Severe Tropical Cyclones: Fran, Beni, Erica, Ului, Pam, Winston and Harold are considered to have made landfall on a Pacific nation. Severe Tropical Cyclone's Pam, Winston and Harold are the only systems to have made landfall while at Category 5 intensity and were considered to have caused widespread devastation to Fiji and Vanuatu. Erica directly impacted New Caledonia as a Category 5 severe tropical cyclone, however, it had markedly weakened, before it made landfall on New Caledonia's main island.[47][48] Severe Tropical Cyclone's Fran, Beni and Ului all made landfall on Queensland, Australia. In addition to these six systems making landfall, several systems have either threatened or passed very near to various smaller islands at their peak intensity. In particular, Fran passed in between the islands of Efate and Erromango in Vanuatu during March 9, 1992 while Susan threatened Vanuatu during January 5, 1998, but recurved in time to spare the island nation a direct hit.[49][13] At around 18:00 UTC on January 6, 1998, Severe Tropical Cyclone Ron passed within 10 km (5 mi) of the Tongan island of Niuafo'ou.[13] Severe Tropical Cyclone Zoe passed near or over several of the Solomon Islands within Temotu Province during December 2002.[5]

Climatology
Category 5 severe tropical cyclones by month
Month Number of storms
January
5
February
6
March
6
April
1
May
1
December
1
Category 5 severe tropical cyclones
Period Number of storms
1970s
1
1980s
1
1990s
3
2000s
8
2010s
6
2020s
1

See also

References
  1. RA V Tropical Cyclone Committee (October 11, 2018). Tropical Cyclone Operational Plan for the South-East Indian Ocean and the Southern Pacific Ocean 2018 (PDF) (Report). World Meteorological Organization. pp. I-4–II-9 (9–21). Archived from the original on October 12, 2018. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
  2. 2017/2018 Tropical Cyclone Season Summary of Alerts and Warnings Procedures for Fiji (PDF) (Report). Fiji Meteorological Service. October 23, 2017. pp. 3 & 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 25, 2019.
  3. Schott, Timothy; Landsea, Christopher; Hafele, Gene; Lorens, Jeffrey; Taylor, Arthur; Thrum, Harvey; Ward, Bill; Willis, Mark; Zaleski, Walt (January 2, 2019). The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale (PDF) (Report). United States National Hurricane Center. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
  4. Hoarau, Karl; Chalonge, Ludovic; Pirard, Florence; Peyrusaubes, Daniel (March 2018). "Extreme tropical cyclone activities in the southern Pacific Ocean". International Journal of Climatology. 38 (3): 1409–1420. doi:10.1002/joc.5254.
  5. Masters, Jeff; Henson, Bob (February 19, 2016). "Fiji Pounded by its First Category 5 Storm on Record: Tropical Cyclone Winston". Weather Underground.
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  10. http://www.ndmo.gov.fj/images/AllDisasterReports/summary_of_disasters_1985-2016.pdf
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  12. "1998 Tropical Cyclone Ron (1998001S09195)". International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
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  27. "2005 Tropical Cyclone Olaf (2005041S13181)". International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
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