Tropical cyclone impacts on the Western Australian coast and extreme wind speeds in Region D

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper reviews the numbers of tropical cyclones in the southern Indian Ocean, and the land-falling cyclones that have impacted the Pilbara and Gascoyne coastlines of Western Australia since 1970, with particular emphasis on those of Category 4 strength and above. It shows reductions in impacts of severe cyclones on that coastline in the most recent two decades. Nearly as many severe cyclones have impacted the coast outside the current northern boundary of Region D in AS/NZS 1170.2 as have occurred within that boundary, suggesting the limits of Region D may need reviewing. Recorded and corrected extreme wind gusts exceeding 22 m/s from eight coastal stations have been processed as a group, and individually for 3 stations with long records. This indicates that the extreme value distribution in the draft standard DR AS/NZS 1170.2:2020 is quite adequate, without any additional factors, but the predicted extreme wind speeds for Carnarvon are well under the Region D specifications. The calculated wind direction multipliers for Region D show higher values from east and northeast; this can be explained by the wind directions generated by the clockwise rotations created by the cyclonic vortices, as the storms cross the coastline, or as they pass along the coastline at near full strength.