Tropical Cyclone Weekly Summary #179 (January 1 - 8, 1995)

[Jack Beven]

This report is compiled from warnings issued by:
National Hurricane Center Central Pacific Hurricane Center
Naval Western Oceanography Center Fiji Meteorological Service
Meteorological Service of New Zealand Joint Typhoon Warning Center
Japanese Meteorological Agency Bureau of Meteorology, Australia
Philippine Meteorological Service Royal Observatory of Hong Kong
Indian Meteorological Department Reunion Meteorological Service
Mauritius Meteorological Service
(others may be added as they become available)

Special Announcement: Text copies of past weekly summaries can now be
retrieved via ftp from squall.met.fsu.edu. They can be found in the directory
pub/jack.

WEEKLY TROPICAL CYCLONE SUMMARY #179 JANUARY 1 - 8, 1995

North Atlantic Basin: No tropical cyclones.

Eastern North Pacific Basin (E of 140 Deg. W): No tropical cyclones.

Central North Pacific Basin (180 Deg. W to 140 Deg. W): No tropical cyclones.

Western North Pacific Basin (W of 180 Deg. W):

Tropical Depression 1W: Tropical Depression 1W formed near 9N 175E on 8
January from a disturbance that moved across the Dateline. Moving west-north-
west, the system dissipated later the same day near 10N 173E. Maximum sus-
tained winds were estimated at 30 kt.

North Indian Ocean Basin: No tropical cyclones.

South Indian Ocean Basin (W of 135 Deg. E):

Tropical Cyclone Bentha (TC-06S): Tropical Cyclone Bentha formed near 13S
60E on 3 January. Initially moving southwest, the system turned south the next
day. Bentha continued south on 5 January as it reached a peak intensity of 55
kt, then it turned west and rapidly weakened on 6 January. It dissipated later
that day near 18S 55E. The remains of Bentha were absorbed into Tropical
Cyclone Christelle that formed on 6 January.

Bentha passed near St. Brandon Island, which reported 30 kt winds and a
pressure of 1002.4 mb at 1800 UTC 4 January. There are no reports of damage
or casualties at this time.

Tropical Cyclone Christelle (TC-07S): Tropical Cyclone Christelle formed
near 13S 57E on 6 January. The system initially moved south, and this motion
continued through 7 January. Christelle turned south-southeast on 8 January,
and at the end of the summary period it was continuing this track at its
peak intensity of 35 kt.

Christelle passed near Mauritius on 8 January. Plaisance reported 30 kt
sustained winds with gusts to 41 kt at 1200 UTC, with a minimum pressure of
993.8 mb at 1800 UTC. In addition, ship 3EXS7 reported 35 kt sustained winds
at 1200 UTC 7 January. There are no reports of damage or casualties at this
time.

Special South Indian Ocean Update: Special thanks to Dr. Chris Landsea and
Dr. Greg Holland for passing me some additional data on Tropical Cyclone
Annette (TC-03S, Summary #176). As the storm made landfall, Mandora reported
a peak gust of 117 kt and a minimum pressure of 933 mb (time of observations
unknown). There are still no reports of damage or casualties.

South Pacific Ocean Basin (E of 135 Deg. E):

Tropical Cyclone William (TC-05P): At the start of the summary period,
William was moving south-southwest with 55 kt winds. William turned southeast
on 2 January as it reached a peak intensity of 60 kt. The storm then turned
east-southeast and became extratropical near 26S 148W on 3 January.

William affected several island groups east of Samoa. Aitutaki Island re-
ported 42 kt sustained winds at 0300 UTC 2 January and a minimum pressure of
975.0 mb 3 hr later. Mauke Island reported 50 kt sustained winds and a pres-
sure of 983.6 mb at 1200 UTC 2 January. Ship FNIK reported 40 kt sustained
winds and a 977.8 mb pressure at 1500 UTC 2 January. There are no reports of
damage or casualties at this time.

Disclaimer: While an effort has been made to insure that this information is
as accurate as possible, it was drawn from operational warnings that may not
always agree with the best track information published after the storm is
over. Please address any questions or comments on the information this week
to Jack Beven at Internet addresses:

be...@hrd-tardis.nhc.noaa.gov or jbe...@delphi.com

Past text copies of the Tropical Cyclone Weekly Summary can be obtained via e-
mail or by ftp (see announcement above). Please send an e-mail message to Jack
Beven if you are interested.

A digitized version of the weekly summary with DMSP polar orbiting imagery
is available over the World Wide Web. This is courtesy of Greg Deuel at the
DMSP satellite archive. It can be found at: http://web.ngdc.noaa.gov/ under
the Weekly Updated Items section of the DMSP Satellite Archive home page.

For more information on the imagery and how to retrieve the digitized
summary and images by other methods, please contact Greg Deuel at Internet
address:

g...@po-box.ngdc.noaa.gov.