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While the U.S. is usually moving into warmer spring weather in March, Australia is entering autumn, which means the height of its tropical season. March and April are the prime months for the strongest Category 4 and 5 cyclones to make landfall. Today marks the 122-year anniversary of one of the most significant tropical cyclones to impact Australia.

“The Bathurst Bay Hurricane” had an official name of Cyclone Mahina. This is because when moving through the Bathurst Bay off the north coast of Queensland, the cyclone ravaged the Thursday Island pearling fleet and killing the majority of the 300 people who perished in the storm.

Prior to the Thursday Island tragedy, Clement Wragge, a meteorologist for the government of Queensland, had noticed deteriorating weather between the islands of Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia, located northeast of Australia. However, the warnings of a possible significant storm could not reach those in Bathurst Bay fast enough.

Back at the turn of the 20th century, weather warnings in Queensland could only be communicated to ships through visual cues from a station. If ships were not in sight-range of the station, they would have to rely on their own weather expertise to make decisions. Unfortunately, with the lack of lead time ahead of Cyclone Mahina, those in Bathurst Bay did not escape the storm’s fury.

Cyclone Mahina struck Bathurst Bay by 11 p.m. local time on March 4, 1899, and the storm ended quickly by 10 a.m. on March 5. At the time of impact, Cyclone Mahina ranked as a Category 5 cyclone, defined as a cyclone with a central pressure of 929 mb or less. According to current standards set forth by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, category 5 severe tropical cyclones have sustained winds of at least 124 mph and gusts in excess of 174 mph. There has been research conducted suggesting the pressure of Mahina could have been as low as 880 mb, which would make it the lowest pressure ever for a cyclone near Australia, but that information has not been confirmed.

Mahina produced a devastating storm surge, which is likely why the Thursday Island fleet was decimated. Reports suggest storm surge could have been as high as 13 meters, or a terrifying 42 feet. That’s a wall of water six feet higher than a typical telephone poll rushing onshore!

While Cyclone Mahina, or “The Bathurst Bay Hurricane” was one of the strongest to impact Australia, it is hard to gather exact measurements since instrumentation and records from 1899 are not as reliable as modern technology.

The most recent cyclone to impact Australia that was anywhere close in strength to Mahina was Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi in late January and early February 2011. It made landfall as a Category 5 storm with a minimum pressure of 929 mb a bit farther south than Mahina on the southern coast near Mission Beach. Yasi produced a storm surge of only 16-feet near Cardwell and only one death resulted from the storm.

Sources: nma.gov.au, bom.gov.au
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Story Image: The track of Cyclone Mahina is shown on the right for March of 1899 (Wikimedia Commons).

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On This Day in 1899: "The Bathurst Bay Hurricane" in Australia