2000–01 Australian region cyclone season

Season timeline

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PlotData= barset:Hurricane width:11 align:left fontsize:S shift:(4,-4) anchor:till from:28/11/2000 till:30/11/2000 color:TL text:"TL" from:03/12/2000 till:10/12/2000 color:C5 text:"Sam (C5)" from:04/12/2000 till:06/12/2000 color:TL text:"TL" from:07/01/2001 till:10/01/2001 color:TL text:"TL from:27/01/2001 till:31/01/2001 color:C2 text:"Terri (C2)" from:07/02/2001 till:15/02/2001 color:C1 text:"Vincent (C1)" from:08/02/2001 till:14/02/2001 color:C1 text:"Winsome (C1)" barset:break from:14/02/2001 till:22/02/2001 color:C1 text:"Wylva (C1)" from:16/02/2001 till:16/02/2001 color:TL text:"10P (TL)" from:24/02/2001 till:08/03/2001 color:C3 text:"Abigail (C3)" from:16/03/2001 till:17/03/2001 color:TL text:"TL" from:01/04/2001 till:08/04/2001 color:C3 text:"Walter (C3)" from:04/04/2001 till:05/04/2001 color:TL text:"TL" from:15/04/2001 till:23/04/2001 color:C2 text:"Alistair (C2)"

bar:Month width:6 align:center fontsize:S shift:(0,-20) anchor:middle color:canvas from:01/11/2000 till:01/12/2000 text:November from:01/12/2000 till:01/01/2001 text:December from:01/01/2001 till:01/02/2001 text:January from:01/02/2001 till:01/03/2001 text:February from:01/03/2001 till:01/04/2001 text:March from:01/04/2001 till:01/05/2001 text:April

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Systems

Severe Tropical Cyclone Sam

Main article: Cyclone Sam

|10-min winds=110 |1-min winds=110 Sam originated from a tropical low that formed in the Arafura Sea on 28 November. Tracking generally westward, the initial low-pressure area remained generally weak until it entered the Timor Sea, by which time it had strengthened into a tropical cyclone on 5 December. Though a subtropical ridge was forcing the cyclone westward at the time, an approaching shortwave trough caused Sam to track southward the following day, towards the Australian coast. During its southward progression, Sam rapidly intensified, and reached its peak intensity on 7 December. Once inland, Sam was slow to weaken as it recurved eastward, and persisted for nearly a week inland before dissipating on 14 December.

Throughout its existence, Cyclone Sam brought heavy rainfall to a wide swath of northern Australia. Some buildings sustained considerable damage, and trees and power lines were felled, resulting in some power outages. However, these people were later accounted for.

Tropical Cyclone Terri

|10-min winds=60 |1-min winds=50 Terri formed on 27 January 2001 near the northern Kimberley coast. The storm paralleled the coast, reaching Category 2 strength before making landfall near Pardoo early on 31 January. The storm dissipated Late on the same day.

Tropical Cyclone Vincent

|10-min winds=45 |1-min winds=35 Cyclone Vincent formed on 7 February 2001, 900 km northwest of Onslow, Western Australia from an active monsoonal trough. Wind shear prevented the tropical low from intensifying for a few days, but once the storm formed it began to move southeast and intensify. Vincent peaked with sustained winds of 55 kn which made it a Category 2 tropical cyclone on the Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale. Cyclone Vincent crossed the Western Australia coast as a tropical low, a few kilometres south of Broome, Western Australia.

Tropical Cyclone Winsome

|10-min winds=40 |1-min winds=40 Winsome was a weak system that developed from a low in the Gulf of Carpentaria on 8 February.

Torrential rains produced by the storm in the Northern Territory resulted in severe flooding which killed two people.

Tropical Cyclone Wylva

|1-min winds=35 |10-min winds=40 Wylva formed from a low in the Gulf of Carpentaria on 15 February. Wylva briefly became a Category 1 tropical cyclone before making landfall near Booroloola in the morning of 16 February. Even though the system made landfall in a remote area, the remnants of the system caused $13 million in damage and around 700 people had to be evacuated. The remnants of Wylva dissipated on 22 February near Nanutarra.

Tropical Low 10P (07F)

|10-min winds=30 |1-min winds=25 This storm moved from Brisbane's area of responsibility into Fiji's on 16 February. It dissipated on 18 February.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Abigail

|10-min winds=65 |1-min winds=60 On 24 February 2001, Cyclone Abigail formed about 80 km northeast of Cairns, Australia. It then made landfall in Queensland as a Category 1 storm.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Walter

|10-min winds=80 |1-min winds=90 Walter was a storm that formed east of Christmas Island and tracked westward at a low latitude.

On 3 April, Cocos Island was placed under a cyclone watch as Walter approached the island. Throughout 5 April, heavy rains and high winds, estimated up to 90 km/h battered the area as Walter passed by the island.

Tropical Cyclone Alistair

|10-min winds=60 |1-min winds=65 The second most damaging cyclone of the 2000–01 cyclone season, Alistair made landfall close to Carnarvon on 24 April 2001 as a poorly organized cyclone. The centre passed just to the north of town with a wind gust to 67 kilometres per hour from the northeast recorded at 4:11 am. Minimum pressure of 1002.9 hPa was recorded at 5 am, followed by the peak recorded wind gust of 90 kilometres per hour from the southeast at 6 am. A total of 24 mm of rainfall was reported in Carnarvon. Plantations to the north of Carnarvon reported 30-40% crop losses, with wind estimates of 100 to 110 kilometres per hour.

Other systems

On 28 November, a tropical low formed near Christmas Island. Moving southeastward, the low was last noted to the south-southwest of Jakarta on 30 November.

On 4 December, the TCWC Brisbane reported that a tropical low formed near the tip of the Cape York Peninsula. Moving southwestward, the primary responsibility of the tropical low was passed to the TCWC Darwin from TCWC Brisbane as the low made landfall near Alyangula. It was last noted on 6 December.

On 7 January, the TCWC Darwin reported that a tropical low developed to the north-northwest of Tiwi Islands. The low slowly moved to the south-southwest, before it was last noted while inland, near Katherine.

Another tropical low formed on 16 March near Christmas Island. Wind shear prevented further intensification, and it dissipated the next day.

On 4 April, a weak tropical low formed to the north of Nhulunbuy. It was last seen the next day.

Storm names

TCWC Perth

• Sam
• Terri
• Vincent
• Walter

TCWC Darwin

• Winsome
• Alistair

TCWC Brisbane

• Wylva
• Abigail

The Bureau of Meteorology would later retire the names Sam and Abigail, replacing them with Sean and Anika respectively. Anika was first used in 2008 with Sean following later in 2010.

Season effects

This is a table of all of the storms that have formed in the 2000–01 Australian region cyclone season. It includes their duration, names, landfall(s)–denoted by bold location names – damages, and death totals. Damage and deaths include totals while the storm was extratropical, a wave, or a low, and all of the damage figures are in 2001 AUD and USD.

|- | Sam || || bgcolor=#|Category 5 severe tropical cyclone || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#| || Western Australia || Minor || None || |- | Terri || || bgcolor=#|Category 2 tropical cyclone || bgcolor=#|60 kn || bgcolor=#|975 hPa || Western Australia || || || |- | Vincent || || bgcolor=#|Category 2 tropical cyclone || bgcolor=#|55 kn || bgcolor=#|980 hPa || Western Australia || || || |- | Winsome || || bgcolor=#|Category 1 tropical cyclone || bgcolor=#|40 kn || bgcolor=#|981 hPa || Northern Territory || || || |- | Wylva || || bgcolor=#|Category 1 tropical cyclone || bgcolor=#|40 kn || bgcolor=#|988 hPa || Northern Australia || || || |- | 10P || || bgcolor=#|Tropical Low || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#| || None || None || None || |- | Abigail || || bgcolor=#|Category 3 severe tropical cyclone || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#| || Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia || None || None || |- | Walter || || bgcolor=#|Category 3 severe tropical cyclone || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#| || Cocos Islands || None || None || |- | Alistair || || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#|60 kn || bgcolor=#|975 hPa || Northern Territory, Western Australia || || || |-

References

References

1. [http://www.wmo.ch/web/www/TCP/TCP24-English2004.pdf ]{{dead link. (August 2012)
2. Padgett, Gary. (December 2000). "December, 2000". Australiansevereweather.com.
3. Chappel, Lori-Carmen. (November 2002). "The South Pacific and southeast Indian Ocean tropical cyclone season 2000-01". Bureau of Meteorology.
4. Perth Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre. "Severe Tropical Cyclone Sam". Bureau of Meteorology.
5. United States Pacific Meteorology and Oceanography Center. (2001). "Annual Tropical Cyclone Report For 2001". Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
6. (8 December 2000). "Cyclone Sam Lashes Australia Coast". Associated Press News.
7. Fyfe, Melissa. (4 January 2001). "Missing refugees alive, says Ruddock". The Age.
8. "Season 2000-2001 Tropical Cyclone TERRI Track Map". australiasevereweather.com.
9. "Tropical Cyclone Vincent". Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
10. James Wakelin and Alice Burton. (14 February 2001). "Storm chaos: 2 feared dead; High winds lash Top End". Northern Territory News.
11. (4 April 2001). "Cocos Cyclone". The Advertiser.
12. (6 April 2001). "Cyclone Walter hits Cocos". The Daily Telegraph.
13. "Western Australia Tropical Cyclone Season Summary 2000–01". Bom.gov.au.
14. "Tropical Cyclone Terri". Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
15. ["2001 Tropical Cyclone Winsome (2001039S11139)"]({{IBTRACS url). International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship.
16. "Tropical Cyclone Winsome". Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
17. ["2001 Tropical Cyclone Wylva (2001045S14142)"]({{IBTRACS url). International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship.
18. "Tropical Cyclone Wylva". Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
19. (11 June 2009). "Tropical Cyclone Alistair". Australian Bureau of Meteorology.