1982–83 South Pacific Cyclone Season
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The 1982–83 South Pacific cyclone season was one of the most active and longest
South Pacific tropical cyclone season A South Pacific tropical cyclone is a non-frontal, low pressure system that has developed, within an environment of warm sea surface temperatures and little vertical wind shear aloft in the South Pacific Ocean. Within the Southern Hemisphere there ...
s on record, with 16 
tropical cyclones A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Dependi ...
occurring within the South Pacific basin between 160°E and 120°W. During the season tropical cyclones were monitored by the meteorological services of Australia, Fiji, French Polynesia and New Zealand. The United States Armed Forces through the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) and Naval Pacific Meteorology and Oceanography Center (NPMOC), also monitored the basin and issued unofficial warnings for American interests. The first tropical cyclone of the season developed a day before the season officially began on October 30, while the last tropical cyclone of the season dissipated on May 16. Most of the activity during the season occurred within the central and eastern parts of the basin with French Polynesia affected by several systems. __TOC__


Seasonal summary

ImageSize = width:800 height:200 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:01/10/1982 till:01/06/1983 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMinor = grid:black unit:month increment:1 start:01/10/1982 Colors = id:canvas value:gray(0.88) id:GP value:red 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:30/10/1982 till:08/11/1982 color:C2 text:"Joti (C2)" from:06/11/1982 till:13/11/1982 color:C1 text:"Kina (C2)" from:10/12/1982 till:18/12/1982 color:C2 text:"Lisa (C2)" from:18/01/1983 till:01/02/1983 color:C3 text:"Mark (C3)" from:21/01/1983 till:29/01/1983 color:C3 text:"Nano (C3)" from:20/02/1983 till:28/02/1983 color:C4 text:"Nisha-Orama (C4)" from:22/02/1983 till:06/03/1983 color:C4 text:" Oscar (C4)" barset:break from:25/02/1983 till:06/03/1983 color:C1 text:"Prema (C1)" from:07/03/1983 till:16/03/1983 color:C4 text:"Rewa (C4)" from:20/03/1983 till:25/03/1983 color:C2 text:"Saba (C2)" from:22/03/1983 till:04/04/1983 color:C3 text:"Sarah (C4)" from:22/03/1983 till:05/04/1983 color:C4 text:"Tomasi (C4)" from:07/04/1983 till:14/04/1983 color:C4 text:"Veena (C4)" from:15/04/1983 till:23/04/1983 color:C3 text:"William (C3)" barset:break from:11/05/1983 till:11/05/1983 color:TD text:"TD" from:16/05/1983 till:16/05/1983 color:TD text:"TD" bar:Month width:5 align:center fontsize:S shift:(0,-20) anchor:middle color:canvas from:01/10/1982 till:01/11/1982 text:October from:01/11/1982 till:01/12/1982 text:November from:01/12/1982 till:01/01/1983 text:December from:01/01/1983 till:01/02/1983 text:January from:01/02/1983 till:01/03/1983 text:February from:01/03/1983 till:01/04/1983 text:March from:01/04/1983 till:01/05/1983 text:April from:01/05/1983 till:01/06/1983 text:May 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 ...
)"
The 1982–83 season was one of the most active and longest
South Pacific tropical cyclone season A South Pacific tropical cyclone is a non-frontal, low pressure system that has developed, within an environment of warm sea surface temperatures and little vertical wind shear aloft in the South Pacific Ocean. Within the Southern Hemisphere there ...
s on record, with fourteen tropical cyclones and nine severe tropical cyclones occurring within the South Pacific basin between 160°E and 120°W. During the season, tropical cyclones were primarily monitored by the
Fiji Meteorological Service The Fiji Meteorological Service (FMS) is a Department of the government of Fiji responsible for providing weather forecasts and is based on the grounds of Nadi Airport in Nadi. The current director of Fiji Meteorological Service is Misaeli Funaki. ...
, which issued high seas and tropical cyclone warnings for the region between the Equator and 25°S, 160°E and 140°W. Tropical cyclones that moved below 25S were monitored by the New Zealand Meteorological Service (NZMS), while those that were located to the west of 160E were monitored by the Australian
Bureau of Meteorology The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM or BoM) is an executive agency of the Australian Government responsible for providing weather services to Australia and surrounding areas. It was established in 1906 under the Meteorology Act, and brought together ...
as a part of the Australian region. During the season, several tropical cyclones formed to the east of the International Dateline and out towards 120°W, which caused significant problems for the FMS, as the eastern edge of its satellite coverage was restricted to around 155°W. As a result, the FMS were dependent on data from other weather services including the United States
Joint Typhoon Warning Centre The Joint typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) is a joint United States Navy – United States Air Force command in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The JTWC is responsible for the issuing of tropical cyclone warnings in the North-West Pacific Ocean, South P ...
, the Naval Western Oceanographic Centre,
Central Pacific Hurricane Center The Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) of the United States National Weather Service is the official body responsible for tracking and issuing tropical cyclone warnings, watches, advisories, discussions, and statements for the Central Pacifi ...
as well as the Tahiti Meteorological Services. The NZMS also had to take over Fiji's regional responsibilities for a few days, while Severe Tropical Cyclone Oscar impacted Fiji and caused a communications outage. The season was characterised by a very strong El Niño event, which resulted in eleven tropical cyclones occurring to the east of the International Dateline. Five of these tropical cyclones went on to affect the island nation of French Polynesia, which it was thought had not been affected by a tropical cyclone since another very strong El Niño episode in 1905–06. During the season, ten of the fourteen tropical cyclones observed to the east of 160 E were severe tropical cyclones, with 5 of them occurring in the French Polynesia region which represented one more than was experienced in the same area over the previous 13 seasons. Damage from the storms in French Polynesia was estimated at F16 billion (US$100 million). After the season had officially ended during April 30, meteorologists at the University of Hawaii identified that two tropical depressions developed on May 11 and May 16. The first tropical disturbance was first by Honolulu on October 30


Systems


Tropical Cyclone Joti

The system that was to become Tropical Cyclone Joti was first noted by the
Central Pacific Hurricane Center The Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) of the United States National Weather Service is the official body responsible for tracking and issuing tropical cyclone warnings, watches, advisories, discussions, and statements for the Central Pacifi ...
(CPHC) during October 30, while it was located about to the north-east of Port Villa in Vanuatu. Over the next day, the disturbance gradually developed further, as its outflow increased and atmospheric convection surrounding the system organized. The disturbance was subsequently named Joti at 00:00 UTC on November 1, by the FMS as it had developed into a tropical cyclone. As a result, this made Joti one of the earliest tropical cyclones ever recorded within the basin. After it was named, Joti continued to develop as it completed a cyclonic loop, before it started to move south-westwards towards Vanuatu during November 2. During November 3, the FMS reported that Joti had peaked with 10-minute sustained winds of , which made it a Category 2 tropical cyclone on the Australian scale. The JTWC subsequently reported that the system had peaked with 1-minute sustained winds of , which made it equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane on the SSHWS. During that day the system started to move towards the west-south-west and made landfall on the northern
Espiritu Santo Espiritu Santo (, ; ) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census. Geography The island belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region o ...
. After the system had moved into 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 gradually weakened and turned towards the south-southwest, before it degenerated into a depression during November 7. Within northern Vanuatu, Joti damaged houses, gardens and fruit trees.


Tropical Cyclone Kina

The system that was to become Tropical Cyclone Kina was first noted on November 6, while it was located just to the east 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 ...
. Over the next few days the system moved south-westwards and gradually developed further, before the JTWC reported that the system had developed into a tropical cyclone, with peak 1-minute sustained winds of during November 10. During that day the FMS also reported that the system had developed into a Category 1 tropical cyclone on the Australian Scale and named it Kina. The FMS subsequently estimated during the next day that the system had reached its peak intensity, with 10-minute sustained winds of during November 11. Later that day the system's upper-level circulation became sheared off from its lower and moved southwards away from it. The degenerating system subsequently passed to the west of Fiji during November 13, before it was last noted during November 16, as it passed over the island of Efate in Vanuatu but no damage was reported. The system caused strong winds and rough seas on Viti Levu and in the Yasawas and Mamanutha group of islands. Tourists on the Blue Lagoon Cruise in the Yasawas were forced to take shelter from Kina, while 18 people on another boat were temporarily listed as missing as they took shelter.


Tropical Cyclone Lisa

During December 10, a shallow tropical depression formed to the west of the Northern Cook Island of Penrhyn and started to move south-eastwards towards French Polynesia. Over the next couple of days, the system gradually developed further before the FMS reported that the system had developed into a tropical cyclone and named it Lisa during December 12. During that day, gale-force winds were observed on Bora Bora before the system caused gas it passed to


Severe Tropical Cyclone Mark

Mark existed from January 20 to February 1.


Severe Tropical Cyclone Nano

Nano existed from January 21 to January 29.


Severe Tropical Cyclone Nisha-Orama

During February 13, a depression developed just to the north of the Marquesas Islands and started moving south-westwards. Over the next four days the system maintained its intensity, before it made a sharp eastwards turn and started to develop further. The system subsequently moved in a counter clockwise loop, which allowed it to develop further and it was declared to be a tropical cyclone and named Nisha by the FMS during February 22. However, by the time Fiji had named it Nisha, the Tahiti Meteorological Service had named it Orama, which was retained in order to save any confusion to the local public. Over the next day, the system started to move south-westwards, while it rapidly intensified, with the FMS estimating 10-minute sustained wind-speeds of during February 24. During that day the system sharply turned south-eastwards and started to gradually weaken, before it was last noted during February 28, as it moved out of the FMS's area of responsibility, while equivalent to a modern-day category 1 tropical cyclone. The Tuamotu Archipelago was the worst hit area with around 30 of its Atolls, either seriously damaged or destroyed with a damage total of around US$1.7 million reported in two villages on Rangiroa.


Severe Tropical Cyclone Oscar

Oscar existed from February 23 to March 6. The system formed as a shallow depression north of
Suva Suva () is the capital and largest city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rewa Province, Central Divi ...
and developed and intensified as it moved westwards, strengthening on February 27 to a Category 3 Severe Tropical Cyclone, on the modern day
Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale Tropical cyclones are ranked on one of five tropical cyclone intensity scales, according to their maximum sustained winds and which tropical cyclone basins they are located in. Only a few scales of classifications are used officially by the mete ...
. It then moved south-east towards Fiji, becoming one of the worst tropical cyclones to affect the country. It caused nine deaths and US$130 million in damages. As a result of the impact caused the name Oscar was retired, from the list of tropical cyclone names for the region.


Tropical Cyclone Prema

During February 25, a depression developed within a trough of low pressure, to the south-west of
Manihiki 250px, Map of Manihiki Atoll Manihiki is an atoll in the northern group of the Cook Islands known informally as the "Island of Pearls". It is located in the Northern Cook Island chain, approximately north of the capital island of Rarotonga, ma ...
in the Northern
Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...
. The system was named Prema by the FMS during the next day, after it had developed into a category 1 tropical cyclone and peaked, with 10-minute sustained winds of . After it had been named: Prema moved south-eastwards and started to gradually weaken, before it degenerated into a depression during February 27. The remnants of Prema were subsequently monitored over the next few days, as they moved towards and through French Polynesia, before they were last noted during March 6. Prema brought strong to gale-force winds and high seas to the Northern Cook Islands of Penrhyn, Manihiki, Rakahanga and Pukapula. On the atoll of Manihiki, the high seas reached the settlement, with minor damage to coconut trees reported as a result. Gale-force winds caused some serious damage to a wharf, on the atoll of Penhryn. Heavy rain and gale-force winds off , caused minor damage to French Polynesia's Leeward and Society Islands.


Severe Tropical Cyclone Rewa

During March 7, a tropical depression developed about to the northeast of the
Society Islands The Society Islands (french: Îles de la Société, officially ''Archipel de la Société;'' ty, Tōtaiete mā) are an archipelago located in the South Pacific Ocean. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country of the F ...
. During that day, the system started to rapidly develop further as it moved and was named Rewa, as it had developed into a Category 1 tropical cyclone. Rewa exacerbated the destruction caused by Severe Tropical Cyclone Nisha/Orama earlier in the season and destroyed more than 200 houses.


Tropical Cyclone Saba

Saba existed from March 20 to March 25. It sustained winds of 65 mph on the Australian scale, and it affected the Pitcairn Islands.


Severe Tropical Cyclone Sarah

During March 23, a shallow tropical depression developed within a trough of low pressure, about to the northwest of
Rotuma Rotuma is a Fijian dependency, consisting of Rotuma Island and nearby islets. The island group is home to a large and unique Polynesian indigenous ethnic group which constitutes a recognisable minority within the population of Fiji, known as " ...
. The system subsequently gradually deepened as it moved south-eastwards and passed to the west of the island, before it was named Sarah by the FMS during March 24, after it had developed into a tropical cyclone. The JTWC subsequently initiated advisories on the system and designated it as Tropical Cyclone 18P.


Severe Tropical Cyclone Tomasi

During March 27, the FMS started to monitor a depression that had developed, within a trough of low pressure about to the northeast of
Penrhyn Penryn is a Cornish word meaning 'headland' that may refer to: *Penryn, Cornwall, United Kingdom, a town of about 7,000 on the Penryn River **Penryn railway station, a station on the Maritime Line between Truro and Falmouth Docks, and serves the to ...
in the
Northern Cook Islands The Northern Cook Islands is one of the two chains of atolls which make up the Cook Islands. Lying in a horizontal band between 9° and 13°30' south of the Equator, the chain consists of the atolls of Manihiki, Nassau, Penrhyn, Pukapuka, Rakaha ...
. Over the next couple of days, the system moved south-westwards and passed about to the southeast of Penhryn, as it gradually developed into a tropical cyclone. The depression was subsequently named Tomasi by the FMS during March 29, after it had developed into a Category 1 tropical cyclone on the Australian scale. After the system was named, Tomasi went through a period of rapid intensification, with an eye appearing on visible satellite imagery during that day. It was also classified as a Category 3 severe tropical cyclone, before a tropical cyclone alert was issued by the FMS for
Niue Niue (, ; niu, Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand. Niue's land area is about and its population, predominantly Polynesian, was about 1,600 in 2016. Niue is located in a triangle between Tong ...
at around 23:08 UTC (11:08 FST, March 30). During the next day, Tomasi continued to intensify and move south-westwards, while the alert for Niue was upgraded to a gale warning. Early on March 31, the NPMOC reported that the cyclone had peaked with 1-minute sustained winds of , which made it equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane on the SSHWS. Tomasi subsequently turned and started to move southwards, as it passed about to the east of Niue. Later that day, the FMS reported that Tomasi had peaked as a Category 4 severe tropical cyclone, with 10-minute sustained winds of . During April 2, the system started to rapidly weaken, with its high clouds being sheared away, before it degenerated into a mid latitude depression. Tomasi remnants moved towards the south-southeast, before it was last noted during April 5. Some minor damage to vegetation was reported in Niue, as a result of Tomasi.


Severe Tropical Cyclone Veena

Veena existed from April 8 to April 14.


Severe Tropical Cyclone William

William existed from April 15 to April 23. William was one of the most northeasterly forming cyclones in the basin's history.


Seasonal effects

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Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...
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See also

* 1997–98 South Pacific cyclone season * 2014–15 South Pacific cyclone season *
List of off-season South Pacific tropical cyclones An off-season South Pacific tropical cyclone is a tropical cyclone that exists in the South Pacific basin outside of the official tropical cyclone season. The World Meteorological Organization currently defines the season as occurring between Nove ...


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:1982-83 South Pacific cyclone season South Pacific cyclone seasons Articles which contain graphical timelines 1982 SPAC 1982 SPAC