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 Cyclone Veronica at peak intensity nearing its landfall in Western Australia on 21 March | |
| Meteorological history | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 18 March 2019 |
| Remnant low | 30 March 2019 |
| Dissipated | 31 March 2019 |
| Category 5 severe tropical cyclone | |
| 10-minute sustained (BOM) | |
| Highest winds | 215 km/h (130 mph) |
| Highest gusts | 295 km/h (185 mph) |
| Lowest pressure | 928 hPa (mbar); 27.40 inHg |
| Category 4-equivalent tropical cyclone | |
| 1-minute sustained (SSHWS/JTWC) | |
| Highest winds | 240 km/h (150 mph) |
| Lowest pressure | 925 hPa (mbar); 27.32 inHg |
| Overall effects | |
| Fatalities | None |
| Economic losses | $1.2 billion (2019 USD) |
| Areas affected | Timor, Western Australia |
| IBTrACS / [1] | |
Part of the 2018–19 Australian region cyclone season | |
Severe Tropical Cyclone Veronica was a large and powerful tropical cyclone which brought major impacts to the Pilbara region of Western Australia during March 2019. The nineteenth tropical low, eighth tropical cyclone and fifth severe tropical cyclone on the 2018–19 Australian region cyclone season, Veronica first appeared as a tropical low near East Timor on 18 March 2019. The system was slow to develop initially while tracking southwestwards through the Timor Sea, but began to consolidate the following day. The storm was upgraded by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) to a Category 1 tropical cyclone on the Australian scale at 18:00 UTC on 19 March, by which time a steady development trend had begun. Upon attaining Category 2 status at 06:00 UTC on 20 March, Veronica underwent a period of explosive intensification. The system became a severe tropical cyclone six hours later, and Category 4 just six hours after that. Veronica reached peak intensity at 06:00 UTC the following day as a high-end Category 4 severe tropical cyclone, with ten-minute sustained winds estimated at 195 km/h (120 mph), and a central barometric pressure of 938 hPa (27.70 inHg). The United States' Joint Typhoon Warning Center estimated that the system was generating one-minute sustained winds of 230 km/h (145 mph), equivalent to a mid-range Category 4 major hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. Veronica proceeded to weaken very gradually over the following few days as it turned towards Western Australia's Pilbara coastline. The system weakened to Category 3 while located just off the Pilbara coast, where it became almost stationary for 24 hours. Veronica began to weaken more quickly as it accelerated westwards on 25 March, tracking parallel to the coast. The system was downgraded below tropical cyclone intensity on 26 March, and after making landfall on North West Cape later that day, the system began to track away from the Australian mainland. Ex-Tropical Cyclone Veronica dissipated on 31 March over the eastern Indian Ocean.
When Veronica struck Australia in March 2019, it flooded major areas and caused about AUS$1.7 billion (US$1.2 billion) in economic losses, primarily from disruptions to iron ore exports,[2] although no fatalities were reported, making it one of only two known billion-dollar tropical cyclones which caused zero deaths (the other was Hurricane Francine which occurred in the North Atlantic more than five years later). Veronica also formed near the time when Cyclone Trevor made landfall in Queensland. Most of the coastal regions of Pilbara suffered some level of damage.
- ^ "Australian Tropical Cyclone Database" (CSV). Australian Bureau of Meteorology. 30 June 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023. A guide on how to read the database is available here.
- ^ "Tropical Cyclone Veronica". Weather Underground.