2003–04 Australian region cyclone season

Infobox hurricane season
Basin=Aus
Year=2004
Track=2003-2004 Australian cyclone season summary.jpg
First storm formed=December 7, 2003
Last storm dissipated=March 28, 2004
Strongest storm name=Fay
Strongest storm pressure=910
Strongest storm winds=115
Average wind speed=10
Total depressions=
Total storms=10
Total hurricanes=5
Total intense=
Fatalities=
Da

Inflated=
five seasons=2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06The 2003-04 Australian region cyclone season was an event in the ongoing cycle of tropical cyclone formation. It began on November 1, 2003 and ended on April 30, 2004. The regional tropical cyclone operational plan also defines a "tropical cyclone year" separately from a "tropical cyclone season", which runs from July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2004.

Tropical cyclones in this area are monitored by four Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWCs): the Australian Bureau of Meteorology in Perth, Darwin, and Brisbane; and TCWC Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea.http://www.wmo.ch/web/www/TCP/TCP24-English2004.pdf]

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torms

evere Tropical Cyclone Jana

Infobox Hurricane Small
Basin=Aus
Formed=December 7
Dissipated=December 12

---

10-min winds=75
1-min winds=80
Pressure=960Formed on December 7 and dissipated on December 12. [http://www.australiansevereweather.com/cyclones/2004/summ0312.htm Monthly Global Tropical Cyclone Summary December 2003 ] ]

evere Tropical Cyclone Debbie

Infobox Hurricane Small
Basin=Aus
Formed=December 17
Dissipated=December 21

---

10-min winds=65
1-min winds=70
Pressure=970Formed on December 17 and dissipated on December 21. Crossed the Northern Territory coast as a Category 3.

Tropical Low Ken

Infobox Hurricane Small
Basin=Aus

---

Type=low
Formed=January 1
Track=Ken 2004 track.pngDissipated=January 6
10-min winds=35
1-min winds=35
Pressure=997Formed on January 1, 2004 and dissipated on January 6. [http://www.australiansevereweather.com/cyclones/2004/summ0401.htm Monthly Global Tropical Cyclone Summary January 2004 ] ] Operationally monitored Ken to have reached tropical cyclone intensity for 24 hours, but post-analysis revealed that Ken never was a tropical cyclone. [ [http://australiasevereweather.com/cyclones/tropical_cyclones_2004_australian_region.htm July 2003 to June 2004 Tropical Cyclones in the Australian Region ] ]

Monsoon Depression

Existed between January 10 to January 17. Caused heavy rainfall across western Queensland and New South Wales.

Tropical Cyclone Linda

Infobox Hurricane Small
Basin=Aus
Formed=January 28

---

Dissipated=February 1
10-min winds=55
1-min winds=60
Pressure=978Formed on January 28 and dissipated on February 1.

Tropical Cyclone Fritz

Infobox Hurricane Small
Basin=Aus
Formed=February 8
Dissipated=February 12

---

10-min winds=50
1-min winds=35
Pressure=985A tropical low developed on February 8 in the northern Coral Sea, within an active monsoon trough. The system developed rapidly and becoming Tropical Cyclone Fritz on February 10, when it was northeast of Cooktown. Fritz moved rapidly to the west, and made landfall on the northern Queensland coast with winds of 75 km/h. The storm lost its tropical character as it crossed the Cape York Peninsula and entered the Gulf of Carpentaria on February 11. The low reintensified over the favourable conditions in the Gulf, and reached its peak with 95 km/h winds near Mornington Island. Radar imagery showed evidence of an eye as the storm passed over the island on February 12. It then crossed over the coast onto mainland Australian and degenerated overland. The remnant travelled over Northern Territory and Western Australia, before merging with a cold front to the south of Perth.

Cyclone Fritz brought up to 309 mm of rain to the Cairns area. This led to a number of landslides, one of which caused severe property damage in Yorkeys Knob. There was flash flooding near Innisfail when 74 mm of rain fell in one hour. Fritz uprooted a number of trees on Mornington Island, but there was no other damage there. There were no casualties from the storm. [http://www.australiansevereweather.com/cyclones/2004/summ0402.htm Monthly Global Tropical Cyclone Summary February 2004 ] ]

evere Tropical Cyclone Monty

Infobox Hurricane Small
Basin=Aus
Formed=February 26


Dissipated=March 2
Track=Monty 2004 track.png10-min winds=95
1-min winds=100
Pressure=935Cyclone Monty was a small cyclone that formed off the Kimberley coast on February 27, 2004. Monty then strengthened into a Category 4 cyclone as it moved parallel with the Pilbara coast. The cyclone made landfall near Mardie cattle station as a Category 3 cyclone on March 1. Monty damaged several boats and caused isolated flooding.

Tropical Cyclone Evan

Infobox Hurricane Small
Basin=Aus
Formed=February 29

---

Dissipated=March 6
Track=Evan 2004 track.png10-min winds=40
1-min winds=30
Pressure=994Formed on February 29 and dissipated on March 6. Crossed Groote Eylandt and the Northern Territory mainland, causing flooding. [http://www.australiansevereweather.com/cyclones/2004/summ0403.htm Monthly Global Tropical Cyclone Summary March 2004 ] ]

ubtropical Storm

Formed on March 2 and crossed the coast in southeast Queensland on March 5, bringing heavy rain and strong winds. A storm surge caused inundation along the coasts.

Tropical Cyclone Nicky-Helma

Infobox Hurricane Small
Basin=Aus
Formed=March 8
Dissipated=March 13
Track=Nicky-Helma 2004 track.png10-min winds=60
1-min winds=65
Pressure=972Formed on March 8, moved west of the region on March 10, and was renamed Helma.

evere Tropical Cyclone Fay

Infobox Hurricane Small
Basin=Aus
Formed=March 14

---

Dissipated=March 28
Track=Fay 2004 track.png10-min winds=115
1-min winds=120
Pressure=910A low pressure system formed in the Gulf of Carpentaria and moved westward into the Timor Sea; it was named Tropical Cyclone Fay on March 16. Fay was 400 km north of Wyndham and 330 kilometres west northwest of Darwin. There were reports along the Kimberley Coast of gale force winds. On March 21, Cyclone Fay intensified even further as the storm approached Scott Reef where significant damage occurred. Looping back towards the Kimberley coast, Fay - now a Category 3 system - approached to within 90 km of Broome on March 25, before turning to the south-west. Broome experienced strong winds with gale-force gusts, some heavy rain and heavy seas but escaped serious damage.

Fay then headed further away from the coast on the 25th before resuming a general southerly track on the 26th. Fay crossed the Pilbara coast between the pastoral stations of Pardoo and Wallal between 8 am and 9 am WST on March 27 as a Category 4 storm with estimated maximum wind gusts of around 235 km/h near the center. [http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/wa/cyclone/about/seasonsummary200304.shtml BoM - WA Tropical Cyclone Season Summary 2003-04 ] ]

The cyclone weakened as it moved inland. Little wind damage was reported from the storm despite its intensity as it made landfall in a remote part of the WA coast and consequently only impacted sparsely populated pastoral and mining areas. As the system passed close to the Yarrie mine it's translation speed reduced and some 200 workers were locked down for 8 hours in two squash courts as accommodation units were overturned, water tanks "shredded" and power lines cut. Fay appears to have weakened below cyclone strength on Sunday evening (March 28) between Nullagine and Telfer.

Cyclone Fay caused extensive flooding and considerable damage. Fortunately, there were no deaths.

Tropical Cyclone Grace

Infobox Hurricane Small
Basin=Aus
Formed=March 18

---

Dissipated=March 24
Track=Grace 2004 track.png10-min winds=50
1-min winds=55
Pressure=985Grace is mostly remembered for its effects prior to reaching cyclone status rather than during its life as an officially named tropical cyclone. A multi-centred tropical low formed adjacent to the north Queensland tropical coast near Cooktown as early as 20 March within a very active monsoon trough that stretched across the northern Coral Sea and Cape York Peninsula toward New Caledonia, and initially had a subtropical appearance. Over the ensuing days, the northernmost circulation became dominant and moved east to the southeast of the equatorward ridge. By 21/1820 UTC it became the second named tropical cyclone of Queensland's and was named Grace.

Grace moved toward the southeast at 15 to convert|20|kn|km/h. This general motion was to continue for the remainder of the cyclone's life. Grace peaked in intensity at 985 hPa with maximum sustained winds of convert|50|kn|km/h near 20.3S/155.9E at 22/0000 UTC. This intensity was maintained for approximately 6 hours. Thereafter, Grace began to undergo extratropical transition with anincreasingly asymmetric wind field due to a squeeze with a surface ridge to the south. Grace rapidly lost its entire upper-level structure and was downgraded at 23/1800 UTC from tropical cyclone status when located approximately about convert|400|nmi|km east-northeast of Sandy Cape (23.6S/162.3E). The remnant surface wind field of the system meandered to the east and then to the east-northeast over the following days, producing a very broad area of gales to its south through the Tasman Sea. The highest three-day rainfall amounts for Grace was 759 mm from Topaz, which received 372 mm in 24 hours. The strongest winds from the mainland were from Low Isle at 18/1311 UTC when gusts reached convert|50|kn|km/h. Cape Moreton at 21 March 2004 2230 UTC received gusts to convert|54|kn|km/h. Widespread flooding and damage to roads and property along the far north Queensland coast, mainly between Cooktown and Cairns. Winds and waves brought tide levels above the highest tides of the year and this was particularly evident at Cooktown. Floodwaters closed all major roads into Cairns. A large section of one lane of the Captain Cook Highway north of Cairns collapsed after a landslide consisting of nearly 20 metres of rock and boulders the size of cars destroyed the ocean-side road. The scenic coastal highway and link between Cairns and Port Douglas was closed for several days. Residents were evacuated from the Whitfield range area due to landslides. An estimated $20,000,000 (US) damage to the Cairns region is attributed to pre-cyclone Grace. There were no casualties associated with Tropical Cyclone Grace. In New Caledonia, further strong winds, heavy rains and flooding were experienced. A massive oil slick threatened a popular tourist beach in New Caledonia. Officials in the French Pacific territory put up barriers around the island of Amedee, which was threatened by a toxic oil slick, estimated to cover an area of 20 square kilometres. They said the oil had come from a boat wrecked several decades ago on a coral reef off South Province.

evere Tropical Cyclone Oscar-Itseng

Infobox Hurricane Small
Basin=Aus


Formed=March 20
Dissipated=March 27 (Moved out of Region)
10-min winds=95
1-min winds=115
Pressure=935Formed on March 20, moved out of the region on March 27 into South-West Indian Ocean region, renaming to Itseng.

torm names

Tropical cyclones are assigned names by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology or Papua New Guinea.

Tropical cyclones are named if they are non-frontal low pressure systems of synoptic scale developing over warm waters, or Dvorak intensity analysis indicate the presence of gale force or stronger winds near the centre. Therefore, a tropical system with gales in one or more quadrants, but not near the centre, are not named.http://www.wmo.ch/web/www/TCP/OperationPlans/TCP24-English2004.pdf]

All names assigned in the Australian region are used sequentially, unlike lists used annually by the National Hurricane Centre in the Atlantic Ocean and east Pacific Ocean. Only the names used during this cyclone season are listed below. The complete list of names for each basin are found in the World Meteorological Organization's [http://www.wmo.ch/web/www/TCP/FactShtTCNames1July05.pdf official list] .

outheast Indian Ocean

Tropical cyclones that develop east of 90°E, south of the Equator, and west of 125°E are assigned names by the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre in Perth, Western Australia.

*Jana
*Ken
*Linda
*Monty
*Nicky
*Oscar

Arafura Sea and Western Gulf of Carpentaria

Tropical cyclones that develop south of the Equator between 125°E and 141°E are assigned names by the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre in Darwin, Northern Territory.

*Debbie
*Evan
*Fay

Coral Sea and Eastern Gulf of Carpentaria

Tropical cyclones that develop south of 10°S between 141°E and 160°E are assigned names by the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre in Brisbane, Queensland.

*Fritz
*Grace

olomon Sea and Gulf of Papua

Tropical cyclones that develop north of 10°S between 141°E and 160°E are assigned names by the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

No tropical cyclone names were used in the 2003-04 season.

References

ee also

*List of Southern Hemisphere cyclone seasons
*2003 Atlantic hurricane season
*2004 Atlantic hurricane season
*2003 Pacific hurricane season
*2004 Pacific hurricane season
*2003 Pacific typhoon season
*2004 Pacific typhoon season
*2003 North Indian Ocean cyclone season
*2004 North Indian Ocean cyclone season

External links

* [https://metocph.nmci.navy.mil/jtwc.html Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)] .
* [http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/wa/cyclone/ Australian Bureau of Meteorology (TCWC Perth)] .
* [http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/nt/cyclone/ Australian Bureau of Meteorology (TCWC Darwin)] .
* [http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/qld/cyclone/ Australian Bureau of Meteorology (TCWC Brisbane)] .
* [http://www.wmo.int/index-en.html World Meteorological Organization]