Cyclone Susan near peak intensity east of Tuvalu on January 5
Meteorological history
Formed
December 20, 1997
Extratropical
January 8, 1998
Dissipated
January 10, 1998
Category 5 severe tropical cyclone
10-minute sustained (FMS)
Highest winds
230 km/h (145 mph)
Lowest pressure
900 hPa (mbar); 26.58 inHg
Category 5-equivalent tropical cyclone
1-minute sustained (SSHWS/JTWC)
Highest winds
260 km/h (160 mph)
Overall effects
Fatalities
1
Damage
$10,000 (1998 USD)
Areas affected
Vanuatu, Fiji, New Zealand
IBTrACS
Part of the 1997–98 South Pacific cyclone season
Severe Tropical Cyclone Susan was one of the most intense tropical cyclones on record within the South Pacific basin. It was first noted on December 20, 1997, as a weak tropical disturbance located to the north of American Samoa. Over the next 12 days, the disturbance remained weak while it gradually moved towards the southwest before it started to rapidly develop on January 2, 1998 while it was located near the Fijian dependency of Rotuma. The disturbance was declared a tropical cyclone later that day, but was not named Susan until the next day, after it had intensified into a category 2 tropical cyclone on the Australian Scale. Over the next few days, Susan moved towards the southwest and continued to intensify before it reached its peak intensity as a category five tropical cyclone during January 5 while it was located about 400 km (250 mi) to the northwest of Vanuatu's capital city Port Vila.
At this stage as the cyclone was moving towards the southwest it posed a severe threat to Vanuatu however, during that day Susan recurved towards the southeast and subsequently spared Vanuatu a direct hit. After sparing Vanuatu a direct hit, Susan started to accelerate towards the southeast and while starting to weaken significantly passed close enough to Fiji during January 7 and 8 to cause gale-force winds in Fiji's southern and western islands. While continuing to move towards the southeast, Susan started to interact with Severe Tropical Cyclone Ron during January 8 before it absorbed Ron by 0600 UTC the next day and starting to transition into an extratropical cyclone.
The extratropical remnants of the combined systems were then monitored for another day until they were last noted on January 10, bringing an unseasonable cold snap to New Zealand. Despite sparing Vanuatu and Fiji direct hits, heavy rain and gale-force winds associated with Susan were reported to have caused minor damage to several Vanuatuan and Fijian islands. These islands included Viti Levu where a possible tornado destroyed the roof of a shopping centre and the Vanuatuan island of Ambrym, where a woman died after being hit by a falling coconut tree, while gathering supplies to secure her house with.
Severe Tropical CycloneSusan was one of the most intense tropical cyclones on record within the South Pacific basin. It was first noted on December 20...
Circle. She was also seen as a lead in the SyFy movie of the week, Mega Cyclone, and more recently, was seen in 12 Rounds 2: Reloaded as the wife of WWE...
South Pacific severe tropical cyclones are tropical cyclones that reach Category 5 intensity on the Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale within the...
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral...
The name Susan has been used for twelve tropical cyclones worldwide, one in the Central Pacific Ocean, one in the South Pacific Ocean, and twelve in the...
Ron was absorbed by the much larger circulation of Severe Tropical CycloneSusan. Towards the end of December 1997, an area of low pressure developed...
October 1998. It is tied with Cyclone Ron and CycloneSusan in terms of minimum pressure, for the most intense tropical cyclone worldwide for 1998. The tenth...
a list of tropical cyclones by year. Since the year 957, there have been at least 12,791 recorded tropical or subtropical cyclones in the Atlantic, Pacific...
Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasa was the second Category 5 severe tropical cyclone in 2020 after Harold in the 2019–20 South Pacific cyclone season. Yasa was...
commonly cause notable impacts over large areas, and most popular tropical cyclone scales are organized around sustained wind speeds. However, variations...
Climate change can affect tropical cyclones in a variety of ways: an intensification of rainfall and wind speed, a decrease in overall frequency, an increase...
It has no official bounds; it ran year-round in 1972, but most tropical cyclones tend to form in the northwestern Pacific Ocean between June and December...
Severe Tropical Cyclone Pam was the second most intense tropical cyclone of the South Pacific Ocean in terms of sustained winds and is regarded as one...
meteorological bomb, explosive development, bomb cyclone, or bombogenesis) is the rapid deepening of an extratropical cyclonic low-pressure area. The change in pressure...
Tropical cyclones are named for historical reasons and so as to avoid confusion when communicating with the public, as more than one tropical cyclone can exist...
larger than the individual thunderstorms but smaller than extratropical cyclones, and normally persists for several hours or more. A mesoscale convective...
unit tasks planes, for research and operational purposes, to tropical cyclones during the Atlantic hurricane season and significant weather events, including...
Tropical cyclones are non-frontal, low-pressure systems that develop, within an environment of warm sea surface temperatures and little vertical wind shear...
A South Pacific tropical cyclone is a non-frontal, low pressure system that has developed, within an environment of warm sea surface temperatures and...
winds of 35 knots (65 km/h, 40 mph). The strongest tropical cyclones were Zeb, Ron and Susan which peaked with a pressure of 900 hPa (26.58 inHg). Hurricane...
Global Information
