ROGER

History

Tropical Cyclone Roger developed from a tropical low that organised within a broad monsoon trough over the northern Solomon Sea on 12 March 1993. Drifting eastward, the system consolidated sufficiently for the Brisbane Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre to name it Roger on 13 March, at which point it had reached Category 1 strength.

Roger followed a long and circuitous path. After naming, it tracked through the southern Solomon Islands, strengthening steadily as it emerged into the open waters of the Coral Sea. Turning toward the south over warm seas and beneath favourable upper-level conditions, the cyclone intensified quickly and reached its peak on 15 March as a Category 3 severe tropical cyclone, with an estimated minimum central pressure near 960 hPa, 10-minute mean winds of about 130 km/h and gusts to roughly 180 km/h. (Some analyses assess the peak more conservatively at Category 2.) Roger held severe intensity for several days while moving broadly parallel to the Queensland coast through the central Coral Sea, remaining several hundred kilometres offshore throughout.

From 18–19 March the cyclone encountered cooler sea surface temperatures and strengthening upper-level westerlies, and it progressively lost its warm-core tropical structure. By 20 March Roger had become a deep extratropical low off the southern Queensland and northern New South Wales coasts, and it moved out of the Australian region and decayed over the South Pacific Ocean on 21 March.

Roger made no landfall. In the Solomon Islands it produced gale-force winds, heavy rain and rough seas, resulting in localised damage to vegetation and traditional dwellings along with some coastal erosion. Although the centre stayed well clear of the Australian mainland, the cyclone's large circulation and subsequent extratropical transition generated a prolonged swell event, hazardous surf and coastal gales along the southern Queensland and northern New South Wales coastlines. Notable beach erosion was recorded on parts of the Sunshine Coast, the Gold Coast and in the Northern Rivers district. No direct fatalities or significant structural damage were reported on the mainland.

Sources: Bureau of Meteorology report Wikipedia