1971–72 Australian region cyclone season

Season summary

ImageSize = width:850 height:250 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:20 left:20 Legend = columns:3 left:30 top:58 columnwidth:270

AlignBars = early DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/10/1971 till:01/07/1972 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMinor = grid:black unit:month increment:1 start:01/10/1971 Colors = id:canvas value:gray(0.88) id:GP value:red id:TL value:rgb(0.43,0.76,0.92) legend:Tropical_Low_=_ id:C1 value:rgb(0.3,1,1) legend:Category_1_=63–88_km/h(39-55_mph) id:C2 value:rgb(0.75,1,0.75) legend:Category_2_=89–117_km/h(55-73_mph) id:C3 value:rgb(1,0.85,0.55) legend:Category_3_=118–159_km/h(73-99_mph) id:C4 value:rgb(1,0.45,0.54) legend:Category_4_=160–199_km/h(99-124_mph) id:C5 value:rgb(0.55,0.46,0.9) legend:Category_5_=≥200_km/h(≥124_mph) Backgroundcolors = canvas:canvas

BarData = barset:Hurricane bar:Month

PlotData= barset:Hurricane width:11 align:left fontsize:S shift:(4,-4) anchor:till from:20/10/1971 till:26/10/1971 color:C2 text:"Rhoda (C2)" from:02/12/1971 till:05/12/1971 color:TL text:"Kitty (TL)" from:03/12/1971 till:13/12/1971 color:C4 text:"Sally (C4)" from:19/12/1971 till:29/12/1971 color:C4 text:"Althea (C4)" from:02/01/1972 till:12/01/1972 color:C1 text:"Bronwyn (C1)" from:05/01/1972 till:11/01/1972 color:C3 text:"Carlotta (C3)" from:06/02/1972 till:09/02/1972 color:C3 text:"Wendy (C3)" from:06/02/1972 till:14/02/1972 color:C3 text:"Daisy (C3)" from:20/02/1972 till:27/02/1972 color:C4 text:"Tessie-Gigi (C4)" barset:break from:24/02/1972 till:04/03/1972 color:C3 text:"Vicky (C3)" from:29/02/1972 till:03/03/1972 color:C1 text:"Angela (C1)" from:20/03/1972 till:29/03/1972 color:C2 text:"Belinda (C2)" from:27/03/1972 till:02/04/1972 color:C4 text:"Emily (C4)" from:06/04/1972 till:14/04/1972 color:C3 text:"Carol (C3)" from:10/04/1972 till:24/04/1972 color:C1 text:"Faith (C1)" from:11/04/1972 till:14/04/1972 color:C4 text:"Gail (C4)" from:08/05/1972 till:11/05/1972 color:C3 text:"Hannah (C3)" from:30/05/1972 till:01/06/1972 color:C3 text:"Ida (C3)"

bar:Month width:5 align:center fontsize:S shift:(0,-20) anchor:middle color:canvas from:01/10/1971 till:01/11/1971 text:October from:01/11/1971 till:01/12/1971 text:November from:01/12/1971 till:01/01/1972 text:December from:01/01/1972 till:01/02/1972 text:January from:01/02/1972 till:01/03/1972 text:February from:01/03/1972 till:01/04/1972 text:March from:01/04/1972 till:01/05/1972 text:April from:01/05/1972 till:01/06/1972 text:May from:01/06/1972 till:01/07/1972 text:June TextData = pos:(569,23) text:"(For further details, please see" pos:(713,23) text:" scales)"

Systems

Tropical Cyclone Rhoda

|10-min winds=60 |1-min winds=60 Tropical Cyclone Rhoda existed from October 20 to October 26.

Tropical Low Kitty

|10-min winds=30 |1-min winds=30 Kitty existed from 2 to 5 December 1971 in the Arafura Sea

Severe Tropical Cyclone Sally

|10-min winds=90 |1-min winds=100 Sally, 3 to 13 December 1971 crossed coast near Broome, Western Australia.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Althea

Main article: Cyclone Althea

|10-min winds=90 |1-min winds=95 Tropical Cyclone Althea was a Category 4 cyclone when it hit the coast some 50 km north of Magnetic Island and Townsville in North Queensland on 24 December. Althea produced peak gust wind speeds between 123 and 145 miles per hour (197 and 233 km/h). Three people died and property damage was estimated at A$115 million loss (1990 value). On Magnetic Island 90% of the houses were damaged or destroyed. In Townsville houses were lifted from their foundations and most trees stripped of foliage. Althea was also notable at the time, as it had struck a major city.

Although there was a dangerous storm surge associated with Tropical Cyclone Althea (between 2.8 and 3.6 metres) little flooding occurred because the cyclone made landfall on a low tide. However, the combination of storm surge and wave action demolished The Strand sea wall and houses in low-lying areas were inundated with up to 0.6 metres of water.

Tropical Cyclone Bronwyn

|10-min winds=40 |1-min winds=40 Bronwyn formed in the Gulf of Carpentaria and made landfall in Queensland on 7 January north of Weipa. Half of Queensland received more than 50 mm of rain, with Paluma, Queensland receiving 1270 mm in 48 hours. Serious flooding occurred during the storm. The Burdekin River flooded Ayr and Home Hill.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Carlotta

|10-min winds=65 |1-min winds=65 Carlotta, 5 to 11 January 1972 well off Queensland.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Wendy

|10-min winds=80 |1-min winds=70 Wendy, 6 February to 9 February 1972.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Daisy

|10-min winds=85 |1-min winds=90 Daisy, 6 to 14 February 1972 off Queensland, caused some flooding near Brisbane

Severe Tropical Cyclone Tessie-Gigi

|10-min winds=95 |1-min winds=65 Tessie, 20 to 27 February 1972 in central Indian Ocean

Severe Tropical Cyclone Vicky

|10-min winds=75 |1-min winds=85 Vicky, 24 February to 4 March 1972 crossed Western Australian coast at Cockatoo Island.

Tropical Cyclone Angela

|10-min winds=40 |1-min winds=40 Angela, 29 February to 3 March 1972 near Cocos Island and Christmas Island

Tropical Cyclone Belinda

|10-min winds=60 |1-min winds=60 Belinda, 20 to 29 March 1972 near Christmas Island

Severe Tropical Cyclone Emily

|10-min winds=100 |1-min winds=105 Emily, 27 March to 2 April 1972 off Queensland, eight lives lost at sea

Severe Tropical Cyclone Carol

|10-min winds=80 |1-min winds=80 Carol, 6 to 14 April 1972 in the central Indian Ocean.

Tropical Cyclone Faith

|10-min winds=45 |1-min winds=45 Faith, 11 to 23 April 1972 in Torres Strait and Coral Sea off Queensland

Severe Tropical Cyclone Gail

|10-min winds=100 |1-min winds=105 Gail, 11 to 14 April 1972 well off Queensland

Severe Tropical Cyclone Hannah

|10-min winds=70 |1-min winds=80 Hannah, 8 to 11 May near Papua New Guinea

Severe Tropical Cyclone Ida

|10-min winds=70 |1-min winds=75 Ida, 30 May to 1 June 1972 near Solomon Islands causing $70 million damage.

References

References

1. "Severe Tropical Cyclone Althea. Summary.". [[Bureau of Meteorology]].
2. "Severe Tropical Cyclone Althea. Summary.". [[Bureau of Meteorology]].
3. "Tropical Cyclone Bronwyn".