A REVIEW OF THE 1997-1998 TROPICAL CYCLONE SEASON FOR THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE Following is basically a tabular summary of all the tropical systems (cyclones and depressions) that have occurred between 1 July 1997 and 30 June 1998. Six columns of information are presented: (1) Number - this is the cyclone warning number assigned by either the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) on Guam or the Naval Pacific Meteorological and Oceanographic Center (NPMOC) at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. If either of these offices did not issue any warnings on the system, there is no number given. (2) Name - the name (if any) assigned by the meteorological agency with official WMO warning responsibility. (3) Dates - range of dates for which tracking information for the cyclone is available in the Global Tropical Cyclone Tracks documents prepared by the author. (4) MSW - maximum sustained windspeed in knots. An asterisk follow- ing the value indicates a 1-min average--otherwise, a 10-min averaging period is assumed. For cases where the 1-min MSW assigned by JTWC in general differed by more than 10 kts from the value implied by the 10-min MSW, I've given JTWC's highest MSW in parentheses. (For cyclones east of Longitude 180 this value would have been assigned by NPMOC.) (5) Basins - tropical cyclone basins where the cyclone tracked during its life: SIO - South Indian west of Longitude 90E AUS - Between Longitudes 90E and 160E SWP - South Pacific east of Longitude 160E (6) Summary - a reference to the Monthly Global Tropical Cyclone Summaries which contain any information on the given system. A number in parentheses (e.g. (1) ) following an entry refers to a note following the entries for the given basin. A separate table is given for each of the three Southern Hemisphere basins. SOUTHWEST PACIFIC BASIN ----------------------- Number Name Dates MSW (kts) Basins Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 02-P Lusi 8-12 Oct 50 SWP Oct 03-P ---- 26-28 Oct 35* SWP Oct 04-P Martin 31 Oct-5 Nov 80(100*) (2) SWP Oct/Nov 05-P Nute 18-21 Nov 60 SWP/AUS Nov 06-P Osea 22-28 Nov 80 SWP Nov 07-P Pam 5-10 Dec 60 SWP Dec/Mar (1) 10-P Ron 1- 8 Jan 125(155*) (2) SWP Jan 11-P Susan 3- 9 Jan 125 SWP Jan 16-P Tui 25-27 Jan 45 SWP Jan 17-P Ursula 29 Jan-2 Feb 55 SWP Jan/Feb/Mar 18-P Veli 31 Jan-3 Feb 55 SWP Jan/Feb 19-P Wes 31 Jan-5 Feb 45 SWP Jan/Feb ---- ---- 11-15 Feb 30 SWP Feb ---- ---- 28 Feb-2 Mar 30 SWP Feb/Mar ---- ---- 28 Feb-1 Mar 25 SWP Feb 29-P Yali 18-27 Mar 70(90*) SWP/AUS Mar 31-P Zuman 29 Mar-6 Apr 80 SWP Mar/Apr 36-P Alan 19-26 Apr 40 SWP Apr/May (3) 37-P Bart 28 Apr-3 May 45 SWP Apr/May NOTES: (1) Entry in the March Summary is a correction to an observation time. (2) These 1-min MSW reported by NPMOC. (3) TC Alan was inadvertently numbered by NPMOC as TC-32P and was referred to operationally by that number; however, it will be referred to in the post-season summary as TC-36P. AUSTRALIAN REGION ----------------- Number Name Dates MSW (kts) Basins Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 08-S Sid 26-28 Dec/3-7 Jan 50 AUS Dec/Jan 09-S Selwyn 26 Dec-2 Jan 70 AUS Dec 12-P Katrina 1-28 Jan 90 AUS/SWP Jan 14-P Les 23 Jan-2 Feb 55 AUS Jan/Feb 15-S Tiffany 24-31 Jan 100(120*) AUS Jan 22-S Victor/Cindy 10-19 Feb 70(90*) AUS/SIO Feb (4) 25-P May 25-26 Feb 40 AUS Feb/Apr 30-P Nathan 21-31 Mar 50(65*) AUS Mar 35-S ---- 19 Apr 35* AUS Apr NOTES: (4) - Renamed Cindy by La Reunion when the weakening cyclone crossed Longitude 90E into the SIO basin. TC Victor was actually an Indian Ocean re-development of TC Katrina. SOUTH INDIAN OCEAN BASIN ------------------------ Number Name Dates MSW (kts) Basins Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 01-S ---- 20-24 Jul 45* SIO none (5) 13-S ---- 18-23 Jan 35* SIO Jan 20-S Anacelle 8-14 Feb 115* SIO Feb/Mar 21-S ---- 9-10 Feb 35* SIO Feb/Mar 23-S Beltane 16-18 Feb 40* SIO Feb/Mar (6) 24-S ---- 16-19 Feb 45* SIO Feb ---- ---- 18-25 Feb 30 SIO Mar (7) 26-S Donaline 6-10 Mar 55* SIO Mar 27-S Elsie 12-17 Mar 90* SIO Mar 28-S Fiona 17-20 Mar 40* SIO Mar 32-S Gemma 7-15 Apr 70* SIO Apr 33-S ---- 7 Apr 30* SIO Apr 34-S ---- 19-22 Apr 40* SIO Apr NOTES: (5) Not covered in any Monthly Summary--listed here for completeness only. (6) The Meteorological Service of La Reunion considered TC-21S and TC Beltane (23-S) to be the same system. (7) No track is available for this depression, as JTWC did not issue any warnings, and warnings from La Reunion were not available to the author during the season. +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ To unsubscribe from WX-TROPL send e-mail to LISTSERV@PO.UIUC.EDU with "unsub wx-tropl" in the body of your message. For help with the WX-TROPL or WX-TALK discussion groups write to chris@siu.edu or see http://www.inlink.com/~landmb/intro.html. For more information on tropical weather products, see the NCEP Products Homepage at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/nhcprod.html.