List of Category 4 South Pacific severe tropical cyclones


Category 4 the second-highest classification on the Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale which is used to classify tropical cyclones, that have 10-minute sustained winds of at least wind speeds of. 47 tropical cyclones have peaked Category 4 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 4 severe tropical cyclone was Gyan which was classified as a Category 4 during December 22, 1981, as it impacted New Caledonia. The latest was Pola as it passed between Fiji and Tonga. This list does include any tropical cyclones that peaked as a Category 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 47 tropical cyclones listed above Severe Tropical Cyclone's: Kerry, Katrina and Larry, were considered by the BoM to be Category 4 Severe tropical cyclones within the South Pacific Ocean, after they had moved into the Australian region. The BoM also considered Severe Tropical Cyclone Watorea, to have been a Category 5 severe tropical cyclone, within the Australian region before it moved into the basin during February 24. Severe Tropical Cyclone Anne was estimated to have peaked by the JTWC, with one-minute sustained wind speeds of 260 km/h for six hours during January 11, 1988. 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 based on the Dvorak technique, which made it a Category 4 severe tropical cyclone on the Australian scale. 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. This showed that the intensity of such tropical cyclones had been underestimated by the various warning centres during the decade. In particular, they estimated that Severe Tropical Cyclone's Oscar and Nisha-Orama had 1-minute sustained winds of 285 km/h, which would make them Category 5 tropical cyclones on the SSHWS.

Land interaction

Off the nineteen Category 5 severe tropical cyclones listed above, only Severe Tropical Cyclone's: Fran, Beni, Erica, Ului, Pam and Winston, are considered to have made landfall on a Pacific nation. Severe Tropical Cyclone's Pam and Winston 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. Severe Tropical Cyclone's Fran, Beni and Ului all made landfall on Queensland, Australia, while Erica made landfall on New Caledonia about to the northwest of Noumea. 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 during March 9, 1992 while Susan threatened Vanuatu during January 5, 1998, but recurved in time to spare the island nation a direct hit. At around 18:00 UTC on January 6, 1998, Severe Tropical Cyclone Ron passed within of the Tongan island of Niuafo'ou. Severe Tropical Cyclone Zoe passed near or over several of the Solomon Islands within Temotu Province.