List of Category 3 South Pacific severe tropical cyclones


Category 3 the third-highest classification on the Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale is used to classify tropical cyclones, that have 10-minute sustained winds of. 79 tropical cyclones have peaked as Category 3 severe tropical cyclones 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. The earliest tropical cyclone to be classified as a Category 3 severe tropical cyclone was Dolly which was classified as a Category 3 severe tropical cyclone. The latest was Oma as it existed in the Coral Sea. This list does include any tropical cyclones that went on to peak as a Category 4 or 5 severe tropical cyclone, while in the Southern Pacific tropical cyclone basin.

Background

The South Pacific tropical cyclone basin is located to the south of the Equator between 160°E and 120°W. 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. Within the basin a Category 3 severe tropical cyclone is a tropical cyclone that has 10-minute mean maximum sustained wind speeds of on the Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale. A named storm could also be classified as a Category 3 tropical cyclone if it is estimated, to have 1-minute mean maximum sustained wind speeds of between on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. This scale is only officially used in American Samoa, however, various agencies including NASA also use it to compare tropical cyclones. A Category 3 tropical cyclone is expected to cause catastrophic devastation, if it significantly impacts land at or near its peak intensity.

Systems

Other systems

In addition to the 19 tropical cyclones listed above Severe Tropical Cyclone's: Harry, Rewa and Yasi, all became Category 5 Severe tropical cyclones within the South Pacific Ocean, after they had moved into the Australian region.
In addition to the systems listed above, Severe Tropical Cyclone's Bebe, Gyan, Abigail, Nisha-Orama, Oscar, Tomasi, Veena, Uma, Bola, Wasa-Arthur, Joni, Sarah, Beti, Kim, Paula, Waka, Eseta, Ivy, Daman, Funa, Freda and Hola were all considered to have 1-minute sustained wind speeds equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane on the SSHWS by the JTWC.

Impacts

Records and statistics

Within the official database for the region, as provided by the BoM, FMS and MetService, a total of XX tropical cyclones have been categorised as a Category 3 severe tropical cyclone. The earliest of these was Severe Tropical Cyclone Pam, which was estimated to have been a Category 5 severe tropical cyclone after a reanalysis of the data was performed by the BoM. The strongest and most intense of these was Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston of the 2015-16 season, which was estimated to have 10-minute sustained wind speeds of 280 km/h and a minimum pressure of at its peak intensity. Severe Tropical Cyclone Susan maintained its Category 5 status for around 72 hours and was the system that maintained its Category 5 status the longest.