Category 5 severe tropical cyclones are tropical cyclones that reach Category 5 intensity on the

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 ...

within the Australian region. They are by definition the strongest tropical cyclones that can form on Earth. A total of 48 recorded tropical cyclones have peaked at Category 5 strength in the Australian region, which is denoted as the part of the Southern Hemisphere between 90°E and 160°E. The earliest tropical cyclone to be classified as a Category 5 severe tropical cyclone was Pam which was classified as a Category 5 between February 3 – 5, 1974, as it moved through the Coral Sea. The latest system to be classified as a Category 5 severe tropical cyclone was Darian, which was classified during 21 December 2022 in the open Indian Ocean.

Background

The Australian region tropical cyclone basin is located to the south of the Equator between 90°E and 160°E and is officially monitored by the Indonesian

Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi, dan Geofisika Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency ( id, Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi, dan Geofisika, abbreviated BMKG) is an Indonesian non-departmental government agency for meteorology, climatology, and geophysics. History Its history began ...

(BMKG), Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the Papua New Guinea National Weather Service. Other meteorological services such as New Zealand's MetService,

Météo-France Météo-France is the French national meteorological service. Organisation The organisation was established by decree in June 1993 and is a department of the Ministry of Transportation. It is headquartered in Paris but many domestic operatio ...

as well as 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. ...

and the United States

Joint Typhoon Warning Center 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 ...

monitor the basin. Within the basin a Category 5 severe tropical cyclone is a

tropical cyclone 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. Depend ...

that has 10-minute mean maximum sustained wind speeds over or greater on the

. A named storm could also be classified as a Category 5 tropical cyclone if it is estimated, to have 1-minute mean maximum sustained wind speeds over on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale. Within the basin this scale is not officially used, however, systems are commonly compared to the SSHWS using 1-minute sustained wind speeds from the United States

. On both scales, a Category 5 tropical cyclone is expected to cause widespread devastation, if it significantly impacts land at or near its peak intensity.

20th century

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Mabel Mabel is an English female given name derived from the Latin ''amabilis'', "lovable, dear".Reclams Namensbuch, 1987, History Amabilis of Riom (died 475) was a French male saint who logically would have assumed the name Amabilis upon entering th ...

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Thelma Thelma is a female given name. It was popularized by Victorian writer Marie Corelli who gave the name to the title character of her 1887 novel ''Thelma (novel), Thelma''. It may be related to a Greek word meaning "will, volition" see ''thelema''). ...

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21st century

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Inigo Inigo derives from the Castilian rendering (Íñigo) of the medieval Basque name Eneko. Ultimately, the name means "my little (love)". While mostly seen among the Iberian diaspora, it also gained a limited popularity in the United Kingdom. Ear ...

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Monica Monica may refer to: People *Monica (actress) (born 1987), Indian film actress *Monica (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Monica (singer) (born 1980), American R&B singer, songwriter, producer, ...

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Hamish Hamish is a Scottish masculine given name. It is the anglicized form of the vocative case of the Gaelic name ''Seamus'' or ''Sheumais''. It is therefore, the equivalent of James. People Given name * Hamish Bennett, retired New Zealand cricketer ...

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Marcus Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to: * Marcus (name), a masculine given name * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name Places * Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44 * Mărcuş, a village in Dobârl� ...

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Niran Na'aran ( he, נערן), formerly known as Niran () is an Israeli settlement organized as a kibbutz in the West Bank. Located in Area C of the Jordan Valley near Jericho,

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Other systems

In addition to the 43 tropical cyclones listed above, three other tropical cyclones are considered by the BoM to have been a Category 5 severe tropical cyclone within the Australian region. These are

Cyclone Mahina Cyclone Mahina was the deadliest cyclone in recorded Australian history, and also likely the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere. Mahina struck Bathurst Bay, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, on 4 March 1899, ...

of 1899 and two tropical cyclones that struck Innisfail and

Mackay Mackay may refer to: *Clan Mackay, the Scottish clan from which the surname "MacKay" derives Mackay may also refer to: Places Australia * Mackay Region, a local government area ** Mackay, Queensland, a city in the above region *** Mackay Airport ...

during 1918. Severe tropical cyclone's Erica (2003) and Harold (2020) became Category 5 severe tropical cyclones, after they moved out of the Australian region and into the South Pacific basin. became Severe Tropical Cyclones Fran (1992) and Beni (2003) were Category 5 severe tropical cyclones, before they moved into the Australian region from the South Pacific basin. Severe Tropical Cyclone Ului weakened into a Category 4 severe tropical cyclone, as it moved across 160°E into the Australian region. The BoM estimates that Severe Tropical cyclones Viola–Claudette (1979), Jane–Irna (1992), Daryl–Agnielle (1995) and Bruce (2013) peaked as Category 5 severe tropical cyclones, after they had moved out of the Australian region and into the South-West Indian Ocean. Operationally Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle was estimated to have peaked as a category 5 severe tropical cyclone, with 10-minute sustained winds of . However, during the post-storm analysis process, it was downgraded to a Category 4 system, with 10-minute sustained winds of . During December 21, 2022 Severe Tropical Cyclone Darian moved into the South-West Indian Ocean as a Category 5 Severe Tropical cyclone, where it was immediately classified as a Very Intense Tropical Cyclone.

Impacts

Category 5 severe tropical cyclones are expected to cause widespread devastation if they significantly impact land.

References

External links

{{Tropical cyclones by intensity * Australian