WINSOME

History

Tropical Cyclone Winsome began as a broad tropical low embedded within an active monsoon trough over the Arafura Sea on 8 February 2001. The low drifted south-southwest into the Gulf of Carpentaria, where interaction with a westward-moving Rossby wave and helpful upper-level divergence allowed it to consolidate. The Darwin Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre named the system Winsome on 10 February, when it reached Category 1 strength on the Australian scale.

Winsome remained a low-end system throughout its brief cyclone phase. Peak intensity was reached on 10–11 February over the Gulf, with maximum ten-minute mean winds near 75 km/h, gusts to about 100 km/h, and an estimated central pressure of roughly 981 hPa. Within a day of being named it crossed the Northern Territory coast on the western side of the Gulf, in the vicinity of Groote Eylandt and the mouth of the Roper River, still at Category 1 intensity. Once inland the cyclone weakened back to a tropical low, but its circulation remained deep and well defined. Steered by strong monsoonal westerlies, the remnant system tracked west-southwest across the Top End, passing roughly 300 km south of Darwin before finally dissipating around 15 February.

The most damaging aspect of Winsome was its storm surge. Landfall coincided with peak spring tides, and in the shallow, enclosed basin of the Gulf of Carpentaria a surge of about two metres flooded low-lying coastal land. The remote community of Numbulwar was worst affected, sustaining around A$1 million in damage, while Bing Bong, Alyangula on Groote Eylandt, and Nhulunbuy experienced more localised inundation. Heavy monsoonal rain in the system's wake produced extensive inland flooding that cut major road links across the Northern Territory, including the Stuart Highway. Darwin recorded squally gale-force gusts, a high swell and beach erosion as the weakening low passed to the south. A fisherman was lost overboard and drowned near the Roper River mouth; flooding associated with the system has also been linked to further loss of life.

Sources: Bureau of Meteorology report Wikipedia