Background Information on Cyclones

Cyclones are vicious tropical storms that only exist in the South Pacific Ocean.
Although there are very similar weather systems in other parts of the world, they are
known there as hurricanes or typhoons respectively. According to the Bureau of
Meteorology (BOM) (2017) Tropical Cyclones are low pressure systems that form
over warm tropical waters and have gale force winds near the centre. They usually
form in a large circular shape and rotate clockwise around the eye. The eye, as
described by BOM (2017) is an area characterised by light winds and often by clear
skies. Eye diameters are typically 40 km but can range from under 10 km to over 100
km. When a cyclone is crossing the coast residents are frequently fooled into
thinking that the cyclone has passed when the eye travels over as the skies clear
and the win dies down dramatically. This is often the most dangerous part of the
cyclone as once the eye has passed over, the winds change direction and continue
the destruction that the first half of the cyclone began. Tropical cyclones can be
freakish weather events leaving millions of dollars in damages in their trail.
There Information in Table is taken directly from BOM (2017) are five
Category and Severity of Strongest Wind categories
of Tropical Cyclone Gusts (km/h) tropical
cyclones 1 Tropical Cyclone Less than 125 which are
shown in 2 Tropical Cyclone 125 - 164 the table
on the 3 Severe Tropical Cyclone 165 - 224 right. As
can be 4 Severe Tropical Cyclone 225 279 seen, the
higher 5 Severe Tropical Cyclone 280+ the speed
the of the strongest wind guests, the more severe the tropical cyclone is. These wind
gusts are often extremely destructive to not only infrastructure on the land, but also
to any vessels who are caught at sea. Wind damage is not the only concern with
tropical cyclones though as they can also bring massive and often record setting
amounts of rain. BOM (2017) states heavy rainfall associated with the passage of a
tropical cyclone can produce extensive flooding. This flooding normally occurs in the
form of a storm surge and these surges are known to raise the high tide level by an
estimated 2-5m.