Cyclone Veronica

Severe Tropical Cyclone Veronica

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] This storm formed near the time when Cyclone Trevor made landfall in Queensland. Most of the coastal regions of Pilbara suffered some level of damage.

Meteorological history