1968–69 Australian region cyclone season explained

Basin:Aus
Year:1969
Track:1968-1969 Australian cyclone season summary.jpg
First Storm Formed:22 November 1968
Last Storm Dissipated:30 April 1969
Strongest Storm Name:Audrey-Bonnie
Strongest Storm Pressure:975
Total Depressions:15
Total Storms:13
Total Intense:1
Fatalities:Unknown
Five Seasons:1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71
South Indian Season:1968–69 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season
Australian Season:1968–69 South Pacific cyclone season

The 1968–69 Australian region cyclone season was an above-average tropical cyclone season, featuring 15 tropical lows, of which 12 of them are named. Amber was the only hurricane-strength tropical cyclone of the season, however, it did not affect any landmasses. It ran from 1 November 1968 to 30 April 1969, with the regional tropical cyclone operational plan defining a "tropical cyclone year" separately from a "tropical cyclone season", with the "tropical cyclone year" for this season lasting from 1 July 1968 to 30 June 1969.

Season summary

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PlotData= barset:Hurricane width:10 align:left fontsize:S shift:(4,-4) anchor:till from:22/11/1968 till:28/11/1968 color:C1 text:"Adele (C1)" from:16/12/1968 till:22/12/1968 color:C3 text:"Amber (C3)" from:19/12/1968 till:24/12/1968 color:C1 text:"Beatie (C1)" from:26/12/1968 till:27/12/1968 color:C1 text:"Bettina-Berthe (C1)" from:27/12/1968 till:30/12/1968 color:C1 text:"Cheri (C1)" from:24/01/1969 till:26/01/1969 color:C1 text:"Bridget (C1)" from:27/01/1969 till:27/01/1969 color:C1 barset:break barset:skip barset:skip barset:skip barset:skip barset:skip barset:skip from:05/02/1969 till:05/02/1969 color:C1 text:"Colleen (C1)" barset:break barset:skip barset:break from:05/02/1969 till:06/02/1969 color:C1 text:"Enid-Fanny (C1)" from:15/02/1969 till:20/02/1969 color:C2 text:"Gladys (C1)" from:21/02/1969 till:24/02/1969 color:TL text:"Irene (TL)" from:01/03/1969 till:09/03/1969 color:C1 text:"Audrey-Bonnie (C1)" from:05/04/1969 till:06/04/1969 color:C1 text:"Leonie (C1)" from:08/04/1969 till:15/04/1969 color:TL text:"TL" from:11/04/1969 till:16/04/1969 color:TL text:"TL" barset:break barset:skip barset:break from:25/04/1969 till:30/04/1969 color:C1 text:"Esther (C1)" bar:Month width:5 align:center fontsize:S shift:(0,-20) anchor:middle color:canvas from:01/11/1968 till:01/12/1968 text:November from:01/12/1968 till:01/01/1969 text:December from:01/01/1969 till:01/02/1969 text:January from:01/02/1969 till:01/03/1969 text:February from:01/03/1969 till:01/04/1969 text:March from:01/04/1969 till:01/05/1969 text:April from:01/05/1969 till:01/06/1969 text:MayTextData = pos:(569,23) text:"(For further details, please see" pos:(713,23) text:"scales)"

Systems

Tropical Cyclone Adele

Basin:Aus
Formed:November 22
Dissipated:November 29
1-Min Winds:35
Pressure:998

On November 22, a tropical depression formed near Papua New Guinea and moved to the southwest. It failed to strengthen until the 27th of November when it briefly reached tropical storm status and was named Adele. The storm then weakened and dissipated the next day.

Tropical Cyclone Amber

Basin:Aus
Formed:December 16
Dissipated:December 22
1-Min Winds:70
Pressure:977

On December 19, a tropical low developed to the southwest of Jakarta. It further strengthened to a tropical cyclone, earning the name Amber. It briefly reached Category 1-equivalent hurricane before weakening. It was last noted on December 22.

Tropical Cyclone Beatie

Basin:Aus
Formed:December 19
Dissipated:December 24
1-Min Winds:25
Pressure:1001

Beati was a weak tropical cyclone that originated to the south of Java. It moved westward, passing to the south of Christmas Island. It remained weak until it dissipated on December 24.

Tropical Cyclone Bettina-Berthe

Basin:Aus
Formed:December 26
Dissipated:December 27 (Exited basin)
1-Min Winds:45

A tropical low to the west of Cocos Islands strengthened to Tropical Cyclone Bettina. However, it exited the basin towards the South-West Indian Ocean basin, early the next day.

Tropical Cyclone Cheri

Basin:Aus
Track:Cheri 1968 track.png
Formed:December 27
Dissipated:December 30
1-Min Winds:40
Pressure:995

Cheri was first noted on December 27 forming to the west of Christmas Island. It briefly strengthened to a Category 1 tropical cyclone before it was last noted dissipating on December 30.

Tropical Cyclone Bridget

Basin:Aus
Formed:January 24
Dissipated:January 26
1-Min Winds:25
Pressure:1002

Another weak cyclone, Bridget was seen developing to the south of Papua New Guinea. It moved to the south before it was last noted to the north of Townsville.[1]

Tropical Cyclone Colleen

Basin:Aus
Formed:January 27
Dissipated:February 5 (Exited basin)
(Out of basin on 28 January–4 February)
1-Min Winds:55
Pressure:984

A tropical low was noted forming near the Solomon Islands on January 27. It failed to develop and moved into the South Pacific basin, where it was named Colleen before striking New Caledonia.[2] It entered the basin again on February 4; however, it wasn't renamed. It reexited the region, the next day, shortly before transitioning to an extratropical cyclone.

Tropical Cyclone Gladys

Basin:Aus
Track:Gladys 1969 track.png
Formed:February 15
Dissipated:February 20
1-Min Winds:50
Pressure:987

Gladys formed over Western Australia, to the south-southwest of Derby. It moved offshore on the same day and moved to the west before it was last noted dissipating to the north-northwest of Exmouth.

Tropical Cyclone Irene

Basin:Aus
Formed:February 21 (Entered basin)
Dissipated:February 24
1-Min Winds:40
Pressure:990

The weakening Irene from the South Pacific basin entered the region on February 21. The storm weakened as it executed a loop before it was last noted on February 24 to the east of Cairns.[3]

Tropical Cyclone Audrey-Bonnie

Basin:Aus
Track:Audrey-Bonnie 1969 track.png
Formed:March 1
Dissipated:March 9
1-Min Winds:60
Pressure:975

A tropical low developed to become Tropical Cyclone Audrey on March 1. However, it made landfall near Maningrida on March 3. It weakened inland as it moved southwestward; however, it regenerated to a tropical cyclone to the northwest of Broome, with the BoM renaming the system Bonnie. It weakened again as it moved further inland, and it was last noted on March 9.[4]

Tropical Cyclone Leonie

Basin:Aus
Formed:April 5
Dissipated:April 6
1-Min Winds:35
Pressure:995

Leonie developed to the north of Cocos Islands. Moving southward, the cyclone slowly weakened and transitioned to an extratropical storm before it was last noted inland, to the south of Jingalup.

Tropical Cyclone Esther

Basin:Aus
Formed:April 25
Dissipated:April 30 (Exited basin)
1-Min Winds:45
Pressure:992

The last named tropical cyclone of the season, Esther formed to the east of Port Moresby on April 25. The system then performed a loop before exiting the basin on April 30. Formed east of Papua New Guinea, executed a loop, and moved eastward into the South Pacific basin.

Other systems

A tropical depression formed on December 16 and later moved into the neighboring South-West Indian Ocean, becoming Cyclone Amber.

Tropical Cyclone Enid formed on the extreme western portion of the basin on an unknown date; it later moved on the South-West Indian Ocean basin and was renamed Fanny.

There were two storms in April that exited off the northeast coast of Australia. The first one developed on April 8 to the southwest of Honiara, Solomon Islands. It moved to the northwest, then turned to the southwest, before it was last noted on April 15, midway between Queensland and New Caledonia. The second one formed on April 11 near the island nation and was last seen to the south-southwest of Brisbane on April 16.

See also

Notes and References

  1. 24. Tropical cyclones in the northeastern Australian region - 1960/61 season. Australian Meteorological Magazine. 1959 . live . April 24, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20190804155749/http://www.bom.gov.au/jshess/docs/1961/necyclone.pdf. August 4, 2019. 50–75.
  2. Book: [{{Google Books URL|id=FThPAAAAQBAJ}} Furious Winds and Parched Islands: Tropical Cyclones (1558–1970) and Droughts (1722–1987) in the Pacific ]. d'Aubert, AnaMaria . Nunn, Patrick D . 978-1-4691-7008-4. Database 1: Tropical Cyclones (1558  – 1970). March 2012 . 58–171.
  3. Tropical Storms and Hurricanes in the Southwest Pacific: November 1939 to May 1969 . Kerr, Ian S . March 1, 1976 . live . August 11, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140413142735/http://docs.niwa.co.nz/library/public/nzmsmp148.pdf . April 13, 2014 . 23–28 .
  4. Known Tropical Cyclone Impacts in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Australian Severe Weather . Callaghan, Jeff . April 23, 2020. 12 August 2004 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110405102413/http://australiasevereweather.com.au/cyclones/impacts-eastcoast.pdf . 5 April 2011 . live.