The 1969–70 South Pacific cyclone season was a very inactive season, featuring only seven disturbances, five tropical cyclones, and two severe tropical cyclones. The season featured only one landfalling storm, Cyclone Dawn. Dawn formed very late, on February 10, and the last storm, Tropical Depression Isa, dissipated early, on April 19. On January 2, a tropical low developed onto a weak depression on the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down the Australian northeast coast. Most of it is protected by the Fre ...

. It later crossed into the Australian Region, where it strengthened onto Severe Tropical

Cyclone Ada Severe Tropical Cyclone Ada was a small but intense tropical cyclone that severely impacted the Whitsunday Region of Queensland, Australia, in January 1970. It has been described as a defining event in the history of the Whitsunday Islands, an ...

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Seasonal summary

ImageSize = width:825 height:260 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:20 left:20 Legend = columns:3 left:30 top:58 columnwidth:270 AlignBars = early DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1970 till:01/05/1970 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMinor = grid:black unit:month increment:1 start:01/01/1970 Colors = id:canvas value:gray(0.88) id:GP value:red id:TDi value:rgb(0.5,0.8,1) legend:Tropical_Disturbance id:TD value:rgb(0.38,0.73,1) legend:Tropical_Depression id:C1 value:rgb(0,0.98,0.96) legend:Category_1_=_63-87_km/h_(39-54_mph) id:C2 value:rgb(0.80,1,1) legend:Category_2_=_88-142_km/h_(55-74_mph) id:C3 value:rgb(1,1,0.80) legend:Category_3_=_143-158-km/h_(75-98_mph) id:C4 value:rgb(1,0.76,0.25) legend:Category_4_=_159-204_km/h_(99-127_mph) id:C5 value:rgb(1,0.38,0.38) legend:Category_5_=_≥205_km/h_(≥128_mph) Backgroundcolors = canvas:canvas BarData = barset:Hurricane bar:Month PlotData= barset:Hurricane width:11 align:left fontsize:S shift:(4,-4) anchor:till from:03/01/1970 till:12/01/1970 color:TD text:"Ada" from:10/02/1970 till:19/02/1970 color:C2 text:"Dawn" from:11/02/1970 till:25/02/1970 color:C3 text:"Dolly" from:27/02/1970 till:06/03/1970 color:C3 text:"Emma" from:07/04/1970 till:11/04/1970 color:C1 text:"Gillian" from:13/04/1970 till:17/04/1970 color:C1 text:"Helen" from:14/04/1970 till:19/04/1970 color:TD text:"Isa" bar:Month width:5 align:center fontsize:S shift:(0,-20) anchor:middle color:canvas from:01/01/1970 till:01/02/1970 text:January from:01/02/1970 till:01/03/1970 text:February from:01/03/1970 till:01/04/1970 text:March from:01/04/1970 till:01/05/1970 text:April TextData = pos:(569,23) text:"(For further details, please see" pos:(713,23) text:"

scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number w ...

Systems

Tropical Cyclone Dawn

Dawn formed on February 16 on the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria (, ) is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea). The northern boundary is ...

as a tropical low. It strengthened to a Category 2 tropical cyclone (Australian scale) before dissipating, northwest of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

on the South Pacific basin.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Dolly

Dolly formed to the east of

Luganville Luganville is the second largest city in Vanuatu after the capital Port Vila; it is located on the island of Espiritu Santo and has a population of 18,062 as of the 2020 census. Those on Vanuatu's northern islands who regard Luganville as their bi ...

on February 11, and was last noted on February 25 to the north of

French Polynesia )Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze") , anthem = , song_type = Regional anthem , song = " Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" , image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of Frenc ...

. It peaked as a Category 1 tropical cyclone (SSHWS) or Category 3 severe tropical cyclone (Australian scale).

Severe Tropical Cyclone Emma

Severe Tropical Cyclone Emma originated as a depression to the west of

Wallis and Futuna Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands (; french: Wallis-et-Futuna or ', Fakauvea and Fakafutuna: '), is a French island collectivity in the South Pacific, situated between Tuvalu to the northwest, Fiji ...

. It moved to the south-southeast before it was last noted on March 6 to the north of

Tropical Cyclone Gillian

A disturbance developed to a depression, to the south-southwest of

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

. It continued its ''L'' movement while strengthening to a tropical cyclone before weakening due to the cold waters and wind shear. Gillian was last noted, far south of

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Internati ...

as it dissipated. It was strengthened to a equivalent of a tropical storm on the SSHWS scale.

Tropical Cyclone Helen

A tropical low developed to a depression, south of

Tuvalu Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-northeast ...

. It traveled to the west, strengthening as Tropical Cyclone Helen before weakening. It was last noted on April 17, south-southwest of

. On April 17, 1970,

Apollo 13 Apollo 13 (April 1117, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the lunar landing was aborted aft ...

was making its final descent over the splashdown zone when they spotted a weakening Helen as they were re-entering the earth's atmosphere. Mission control had been tracking the storm to make sure it did not interfere with the mission's re-entry.

Tropical Cyclone Isa

It was unknown if the precursor to Isa was noted to the southeast, or to the southwest of

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

. It strengthened to a Category 1 tropical cyclone (Australian scale), but it remained a tropical depression (SSHWS). It was last noted on April 19, as it dissipated.

Other systems

During January 5, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology first noted the existence of a weak tropical depression over the eastern

, however, it has since been determined that the depression developed during January 2 near . The system was subsequently tracked by infrequent satelitte imagery, which revealed that it slowly completed a cyclonic loop near the

before curving back toward the southwest. The system entered the Australian region during 15 January, where it subsequently became Severe Tropical

before making landfall on Queensland during 17 January.

Seasonal effects

References

External links

* Atlantic hurricane seasons:

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

* Eastern Pacific hurricane seasons:

* Western Pacific typhoon seasons:

* North Indian Ocean cyclone seasons:

{{DEFAULTSORT:1969-70 South Pacific cyclone season South Pacific cyclone seasons