1977–78 Australian region cyclone season

Seasonal summary

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AlignBars = early DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/11/1977 till:30/04/1978 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMinor = grid:black unit:month increment:1 start:01/11/1977 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:06/11/1977 till:11/11/1977 color:C1 text:"Tom (C1)" from:13/12/1977 till:14/12/1977 color:C2 text:"Sam-Celimene (C2)" from:10/01/1978 till:20/01/1978 color:C4 text:"Trudy (C4)" from:27/01/1978 till:03/02/1978 color:C3 text:"Vern (C3)" from:25/02/1978 till:27/02/1978 color:C2 text:"Gwen (C2)" from:16/03/1978 till:29/03/1978 color:C4 text:"Winnie (C4)" from:27/03/1978 till:05/04/1978 color:C5 text:"Alby (C5)" from:05/04/1978 till:14/04/1978 color:C2 text:"Brenda (C2)" from:06/04/1978 till:11/04/1978 color:C2 text:"Hal (C2)"

bar:Month width:5 align:center fontsize:S shift:(0,-20) anchor:middle color:canvas from:01/11/1977 till:30/11/1977 text:November from:01/12/1977 till:31/12/1977 text:December from:01/01/1978 till:31/01/1978 text:January from:01/02/1978 till:28/02/1978 text:February from:01/03/1978 till:31/03/1978 text:March from:01/04/1978 till:30/04/1978 text:April TextData = pos:(569,23) text:"(For further details, please see" pos:(713,23) text:" scales)"

Systems

Tropical Cyclone Tom

|10-min winds=50 |1-min winds=50

Tropical Cyclone Sam–Celimene

|10-min winds=50 |1-min winds=45

Severe Tropical Cyclone Trudy

|10-min winds=90 |1-min winds=95

Severe Tropical Cyclone Vern

|10-min winds=80 |1-min winds=80

Cyclone Vern formed on 27 January from one of several low pressure centres within a trough that extended from the Cocos Islands eastward across northern Australia to Queensland. Over the period of a couple days, the strong northwesterly monsoonal flow to the north of the trough interacted with the strengthening easterly winds of a high-pressure area moving into the Great Australian Bight. As a result, one of the lows rapidly deepening into a tropical cyclone off the Kimberley coast. After initially moving tracking westward out to sea, the storm executed an anticyclonic loop and proceeded to move eastward. Then, early on 31 January, while located about 250 km northwest of Broome, Vern took a sharp turn toward the southeast then south. It continued in that general direction until it made landfall near Anna Plains at about 03:00 GMT, 1 February, with winds of about 145 km/h. Inland, the system tracked southwestward then to the south again, causing flooding and minor damage, before dissipating on 3 February over the Pilbara.

Tropical Cyclone Gwen

|10-min winds=50 |1-min winds=50

Severe Tropical Cyclone Winnie

|10-min winds=100 |1-min winds=110

Severe Tropical Cyclone Alby

|10-min winds=110 |1-min winds=115 Main article: Cyclone Alby

On 27 March, a tropical depression developed in the eastern Indian Ocean between Indonesia and Australia. It drifted to the southwest, and slowly strengthened into a tropical storm on 29 March. Alby continued slowly southwestward, and attained cyclone status on 30 March. The rate of intensification, which was slower earlier in its life, became more steady towards strengthening, and reached the equivalent of Category 3 status on 1 April. Tropical Cyclone Alby turned more to the south, and quickly reached a peak of 135 mph later on 1 April. After maintaining its strength for 30 hours, Alby weakened as it turned to the southeast. Its forward momentum increased over the southeast Indian Ocean, and Alby was only an 85 mph cyclone as it passed off the southwest coast of Australia on 4 April. It continued rapidly to the southeast, and became extra-tropical on 5 April while south of the continent.

On 4 April, Tropical Cyclone Alby passed close to the southwest corner of Western Australia, killing five people and causing widespread but mostly minor damage to the southwest. The damage bill was estimated to be $39 million (2003 dollars). A man was blown from the roof of a shed and a woman was killed by a falling pine tree. Another man was killed when a tree fell on the bulldozer he was operating and two men drowned when their dinghy overturned at Albany. Storm surge and destructive waves caused coastal inundation and erosion from Perth to Busselton, damaging the Busselton Jetty and Fremantle Harbour. Fires fanned by the strong winds burned an estimated 1140 km2 of forest and farming land.

Tropical Cyclone Brenda

|10-min winds=50 |1-min winds=50

Tropical Cyclone Hal

|10-min winds=50 |1-min winds=55

References

References

1. "Tropical Cyclone Vern 27/01/1978 to 03/02/1978". [[Bureau of Meteorology]].