| Basin: | SPac |
| Year: | 1985 |
| Track: | 1984-1985 South Pacific cyclone season summary.jpg |
| First Storm Formed: | December 26, 1984 |
| Last Storm Dissipated: | March 20, 1985 |
| Strongest Storm Name: | Hina |
| Strongest Storm Pressure: | 910 |
| Strongest Storm Winds: | 120 |
| Average Wind Speed: | 10 |
| Total Depressions: | 9 |
| Total Hurricanes: | 9 |
| Total Intense: | 5 |
| Fatalities: | 37 |
| Damagespre: | > |
| Damages: | 40 |
| Five Seasons: | 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87 |
| South Indian Season: | 1984–85 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season |
| South Pacific Season: | 1984–85 Australian region cyclone season |
The 1984–85 South Pacific cyclone season was an above-average tropical cyclone season, with nine tropical cyclones occurring within the basin between 160°E and 120°W. The season ran from November 1, 1984, to April 30, 1985, with tropical cyclones officially monitored by the Fiji Meteorological Service (FMS), Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) and New Zealand's MetService. The United States Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) and other national meteorological services including Météo-France and NOAA also monitored the basin during the season. During the season there was nine tropical cyclones occurring within the basin, including three that moved into the basin from the Australian region. The BoM, MetService and RSMC Nadi all estimated sustained wind speeds over a period of 10-minutes, which are subsequently compared to the Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale, while the JTWC estimated sustained winds over a 1-minute period, which are subsequently compared to the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale (SSHWS).__TOC__
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PlotData= barset:Hurricane width:10 align:left fontsize:S shift:(4,-4) anchor:till from:26/12/1984 till:28/12/1984 color:C1 text:"Unnamed (C1)" from:28/12/1984 till:31/12/1984 color:C2 text:"Monica (C2)" from:09/01/1985 till:16/01/1985 color:C1 text:"Drena (C1)" from:13/01/1985 till:20/01/1985 color:C3 text:"Eric (C3)" from:16/01/1985 till:28/01/1985 color:C3 text:"Nigel (C3)" from:19/01/1985 till:21/01/1985 color:C4 text:"Odette (C4)" barset:break from:25/01/1985 till:30/01/1985 color:C3 text:"Freda (C3)" from:02/03/1985 till:08/03/1985 color:C2 text:"Gavin (C2)" from:11/03/1985 till:20/03/1985 color:C5 text:"Hina (C5)"
bar:Month width:5 align:center fontsize:S shift:(0,-20) anchor:middle color:canvas from:01/12/1984 till:31/12/1984 text:December from:01/01/1985 till:31/01/1985 text:January from:01/02/1985 till:28/02/1985 text:February from:01/03/1985 till:01/04/1985 text:March
TextData = pos:(568,24) text:"(From the" pos:(615,24) text:"Australian tropical cyclone scale)"
During November and December no significant tropical cyclones developed in or moved into the basin in the region,
The remnants of Tropical Cyclone Pierre were last noted during 24 February, as they moved into the basin from the Australian region.[1] [2]
| Basin: | SPac |
| Track: | 07P 1984 track.png |
| Formed: | December 26 |
| Dissipated: | December 28 |
| Pressure: | 987 |
| 10-Min Winds: | 45 |
| 1-Min Winds: | 45 |
An unnamed tropical cyclone existed from December 26 to December 28.
| Basin: | SPac |
| Track: | Monica 1984 track.png |
| Formed: | December 28 |
| Dissipated: | January 3 |
| Pressure: | 975 |
| 10-Min Winds: | 60 |
| 1-Min Winds: | 55 |
Tropical Cyclone Monica existed from December 29 to December 30.
| Basin: | SPac |
| Track: | Drena 1985 track.png |
| Formed: | January 9 |
| Dissipated: | January 16 |
| Pressure: | 987 |
| 10-Min Winds: | 45 |
| 1-Min Winds: | 50 |
Tropical Cyclone Drena existed from January 9 to January 16.
| Basin: | SPac |
| Track: | Eric 1985 track.png |
| Formed: | January 13 |
| Dissipated: | January 20 |
| Pressure: | 955 |
| 10-Min Winds: | 80 |
| 1-Min Winds: | 100 |
See main article: Cyclone Eric.
On January 13, TCWC Nadi started to monitor a shallow depression that had developed within the monsoon trough about 450miles to the west of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu.[3] Over the next day the system moved eastwards and developed further as gale-force winds developed near the systems centre before the JTWC initiated advisories on the system and designated it as Tropical Cyclone 11P during January 14.[3] [4] The system was subsequently named Eric by TCWC Nadi as it moved closer to Espiritu Santo and became equivalent to a category 1 tropical cyclone.[3] During January 15, Eric passed near or over Espiritu Santo, as it continued to intensify before it turned and accelerated south-eastwards.[3] Eric subsequently became equivalent to a category 3 severe tropical cyclone early the next day, before an Air Pacific flight from Fiji to the Solomon Islands located the systems eye on radar.[3]
During January 17, Eric's well defined eye came into the range of Nadi airports surveillance radar, before TCWC Nadi estimated that Eric had peaked with 10-minute sustained wind-speeds of 150 km/h (90 mph).[3] During that day Eric's eye seemed to contract to around 10miles as it made passed through Fiji's Western Division and made landfall on the Fijian main island of Viti Levu about 5miles to the south of Nadi.[3] After the system had made landfall, the JTWC estimated that Eric had peaked with 1-minute sustained wind speeds of 185 km/h (115 mph), which made it equivalent to a category 3 hurricane on the SSHWS.[5] The system subsequently passed near or over Fiji's capital: Suva before emerging into the Korro Sea and weakening. Eric subsequently passed through the Tonga's Ha'apai islands just to the south of Nomuka during January 18, before it gradually weakened and was last noted during January 20, over 1800round=5NaNround=5 to the south of Papeete, French Polynesia.[5]
| Basin: | SPac |
| Track: | Nigel 1985 track.png |
| Formed: | January 16 |
| Dissipated: | January 28 |
| Pressure: | 955 |
| 10-Min Winds: | 80 |
| 1-Min Winds: | 105 |
See main article: Cyclone Nigel. Late on January 16, Tropical Cyclone Nigel moved into the South Pacific basin from the Australian region. During the next day the system continued to move eastwards and developed an eye, before it became equivalent to a modern-day category 3 severe tropical cyclone.
| Basin: | SPac |
| Track: | Odette 1985 track.png |
| Formed: | January 19 |
| Dissipated: | January 21 |
| Pressure: | 936 |
| 10-Min Winds: | 90 |
| 1-Min Winds: | 90 |
At around 1300 UTC on January 19, Severe Tropical Cyclone Odette moved into the South Pacific Basin from the Australian Region.
| Basin: | SPac |
| Track: | Freda 1985 track.png |
| Formed: | January 25 |
| Dissipated: | January 30 |
| Pressure: | 955 |
| 10-Min Winds: | 80 |
| 1-Min Winds: | 80 |
During January 26, the FMS reported that a depression was located within the vicinity of the Southern Cook Islands about 150round=5NaNround=5 to the west-northwest of the island of Aitutaki.
See main article: Cyclone Gavin (1985).
| Basin: | SPac |
| Track: | Gavin 1985 track.png |
| Formed: | March 2 |
| Dissipated: | March 8 |
| Pressure: | 985 |
| 10-Min Winds: | 50 |
| 1-Min Winds: | 55 |
Gavin caused widespread flooding within the western division of Fiji, with seven people killed as a result.[6]
| Basin: | SPac |
| Track: | Hina 1985 track.png |
| Formed: | March 11 |
| Dissipated: | March 20 |
| Pressure: | 910 |
| 10-Min Winds: | 120 |
| 1-Min Winds: | 135 |
Hina was one of the most intense tropical cyclones ever recorded in the South Pacific basin. Having a distinct rainband and well defined outflow with low wind shear and warm water temperature, Hina underwent a period of Explosive Deepening (rapid intensification) The storm continued southward. Due to unfavorable conditions and an approaching Eyewall Replacement Cycle, the storm weakened into a tropical storm. As its center became ill-defined, the storm lost winds of tropical storm force and weakened into a tropical depression. The remnants dissipated some time later.
This table lists all the storms that developed in the South Pacific basin during the 1984–85 season. It includes their intensity on the Australian Tropical cyclone intensity scale, duration, name, areas affected, deaths, and damages.
|-| || || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#|45kn || bgcolor=#|987hPa || || || |||-| || || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#|60kn || bgcolor=#|975hPa || New Caledonia || || |||-| || || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#|45kn || bgcolor=#|987hPa || || || |||-| || || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#|80kn || bgcolor=#|955hPa || Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga || rowspan=2| || rowspan=2| ||rowspan=2|[6] |-| || || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#|40kn || bgcolor=#|955hPa || Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga|-| || || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#|90kn || bgcolor=#|960hPa || Vanuatu || Minor || |||-| || || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#|80kn || bgcolor=#|955hPa || || || |||-| || || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#|50kn || bgcolor=#|985hPa || Vanuatu, Fiji || || 7 |||-| || || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#|120kn || bgcolor=#|910hPa || Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji || || 3 |||-