An interesting occurrence came out of Cyclone Ingrid which lashed the
tropical coast of Australia a few weeks ago. Local ABC radio interviewed
people who had been right under the cyclone's path after it crossed Cape
York Peninsula.
The cyclone was small by cyclone standards but a very intense one
- category 5 which is at the top of the scale. Winds around the eye were
up to 300 km per hour. It crossed the Peninsula coast about 50 km south
of Iron Range but weakened to a category 4 and by the time it crossed
the western coast of Cape York Peninsula (Gulf of Carpentaria
side) it had weakened to category 1 which still has very strong winds
around the eye. (Cyclones weaken quickly when they move over land). The
cyclone regained strength as it moved into the Gulf and over water to a
category 3 and then skirted the Top End again on to the Kimberley as a
cacegory 5. It had a moderately sized eye - about 15 km in diameter
according to Meteorological Bureau reports and very obvious on satellite
photographs. (The eye of a cyclone is calm and the sky is often cloudless).
The people who were under the cyclone on Cape York Peninsula and had the
eye pass over them remarked on the large number of seabirds (probably
Frigatebirds, boobies, terns?) that were soaring about - trapped in the
eye. One wonders what happens to these birds, how far they are carried
and what was their fate. One would think that with an eye 15 km in
diamteter, they would have had time to rest and perhaps feed while ever
it was over the sea.However, one would assume they would perish in the end.
Lloyd Nielsen
Mt Molloy Nth Qld
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