The 2024–25 South Pacific cyclone season was one of the least active seasons on record within the

South Pacific Ocean South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

to the east of 160°E, seeing four named storms forming, none of which intensified into severe tropical cyclones, the first such occurrence since the 2008–09 season. The season officially started on 1 November 2024, and ended on 30 April 2025; however a tropical cyclone could form at any time between 1 July 2024, and 30 June 2025, and would count towards the season total. During the season, tropical cyclones will be officially monitored by the

Fiji Meteorological Service The Fiji Meteorological Service (FMS) is a Department of the government of Fiji responsible for providing weather forecasts and is based on the grounds of Nadi Airport in Nadi. The current director of Fiji Meteorological Service is Misaeli Funak ...

, Australian

Bureau of Meteorology The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM or BoM) is an executive agency of the Government of Australia, Australian Government that is responsible for providing Weather forecasting, weather forecasts and Meteorology, meteorological services to Australia a ...

and New Zealand's

MetService Meteorological Service of New Zealand Limited, or simply MetService (), is the national meteorological service of New Zealand. MetService was established as a state-owned enterprise in 1992. It employs about 300 staff, and its headquarters are ...

. The

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

through the

Joint Typhoon Warning Center The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) is a joint United States Navy – United States Air Force command in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The JTWC is responsible for the issuing of tropical cyclone warnings in the North-West Pacific Ocean, South P ...

(JTWC) will also monitor the basin and issue unofficial warnings for American interests. The FMS attaches a number and an F suffix to tropical disturbances that form in or move into the basin while the JTWC designates significant tropical cyclones with a number and a P suffix. The BoM, FMS and MetService all use the

Australian Tropical Cyclone Intensity Scale Tropical cyclones are ranked on one of five tropical cyclone intensity scales, according to their maximum sustained winds and which tropical cyclone basins they are located in. Only a few classifications are used officially by the meteorologi ...

and estimate windspeeds with a period of approximately ten minutes, while the JTWC estimates sustained winds over a 1-minute period, which are subsequently compared to the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale (SSHWS). __TOC__

Seasonal forecasts

Ahead of the season officially starting on 1 November, the

(FMS) and New Zealand's

National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research or NIWA (), is a Crown Research Institute of New Zealand. Established in 1992, NIWA conducts research across a broad range of disciplines in the environmental sciences. It also maintai ...

(NIWA), both issued a tropical cyclone outlook that discussed the upcoming season. These outlooks took into account a variety of factors such as a developing weak to moderate

La Niña LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...

event and what had happened in previous seasons such as 1983–84, 1995–96, 2000–01, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2016–17 and 2017–18. The Southwest Pacific tropical cyclone outlook issued by New Zealand's

(NIWA) in conjunction with

and various other Pacific meteorological services, predicted that six to ten tropical cyclones would occur over the South Pacific Ocean between 135°E and 120°W. The outlook also predicted that three to four of these tropical cyclones would intensify further and become either a Category

three 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...

, four or

five 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

severe tropical cyclone on the

Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale Tropical cyclones are ranked on one of five tropical cyclone intensity scales, according to their maximum sustained winds and which tropical cyclone basins they are located in. Only a few classifications are used officially by the meteorologi ...

. In addition to contributing towards the Southwest Pacific tropical cyclone outlook, the FMS predicted that between five and six tropical cyclones would occur within the basin, while one or two of these tropical cyclones were expected to intensify further and become either a category three, four or five severe tropical cyclone on the Australian scale. Both outlooks also predicted that the majority of systems would occur to the west of the

International Dateline The International Date Line (IDL) is the line extending between the South Pole, South and North Poles that is the boundary between one calendar day and the next. It passes through the Pacific Ocean, roughly following the 180th meridian, 180.0� ...

, which as a result meant that the Solomon Islands had a normal to elevated risk of being impacted by a tropical cyclone. It was also predicted that Vanuatu and New Caledonia had a normal chance of being impacted by a tropical cyclone while Fiji, Niue, Samoa, American Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Wallis and Futuna had a normal to reduced chance of being impacted by a tropical cyclone.

Seasonal summary

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scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number ...

Early season activity

The season began abnormally late, the first system of the season, Tropical Depression 01F formed in late December. The storm eventually made landfall in Fiji and dissipated during the last few days of the year. Tropical Disturbances 02F and 03F were designated on 31 December and 5 January respectively, both stayed out to sea moving southeastwards before both dissipating 3 days later. The first named storm of the season, Tropical Cyclone Pita formed on 9 January. The storm dropped heavy rains that resulted in flooding across Samoa and Fiji, isolated flooding occurred in the latter nation including the collapse of a bridge.

Peak season activity

After a long pause in activity, two Tropical Depressions (05F and 07F) were monitored in early and mid-February. 06F however failed to reach Tropical Depression status. Tropical Depression 08F were monitored later that month. On 22 February Tropical Cyclone Rae developed passing just east of

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

. On 23 February, the Fiji Meteorological Service named Tropical Cyclone Rae. Rae peaked on 25 February with winds of 110km/h and 975 hpa. A few days later on 24 February, Tropical Cyclone Seru formed. Seru peaked with 110km/h and 980 hpa on 25 February. Rae turned post-tropical on 26 February and Seru degenerated into a remnant low on 1 March, respectively.

Late season activity

After a second, even more significant lull in activity, Tropical Cyclone Tam was named on 14 April by the

. It intensified into a deep subtropical cyclone by 16 April, bringing severe weather to northern

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and causing 5 deaths in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Systems

Tropical Depression 01F

Tropical Disturbance 02F

On 31 December, a low-pressure area formed on the sea northeastern of Australia. It became a tropical disturbance on the same day.

Tropical Disturbance 03F

On 5 January, a low-pressure area formed near Samoa. The Fiji Meteorological Service (FMS) noticed it and designated it as a tropical disturbance on the same day, stating it lay within a low sheared environment with good upper divergence, and over sea surface temperature at 30°C. FMS analysed the potential for tropical cyclone development to be low to moderate. Later that day, the FMS downgraded it to a very low chance. After heading southeastward, it became extratropical on 8 January, causing the FMS to cease advisories.

Tropical Cyclone Pita

The

named Cyclone Pita as the first

tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

of the season. The storm passed over

Niue Niue is a self-governing island country in free association with New Zealand. It is situated in the South Pacific Ocean and is part of Polynesia, and predominantly inhabited by Polynesians. One of the world's largest coral islands, Niue is c ...

and

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

before being downgraded to a depression. Heavy rains associated with the tropical cyclone caused flooding in

and

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

. In Fiji, this flooding resulted in isolated damages, including the collapse of a bridge, although no fatalities were reported.

Tropical Depression 05F

Tropical Depression 05F was a tropical storm that formed on 31 February. This tropical storm was close to the Loyalty Islands, causing damages and no electricity, until it dissipated on 5 February.

Tropical Disturbance 06F

Tropical Depression 07F

Tropical Depression 08F

Tropical Cyclone Rae

On 22 February, the FMS designated Tropical Depression 09F and later had a moderate to high chance to become a tropical cyclone. On 23 February at 06:00 UTC, the FMS named Tropical Cyclone ''Rae''. Rae brought heavy rainfall and triggered flooding to parts of Fiji. In Sawana, a lot of trees were uprooted by strong winds and blocked roads on Vanua Balavu. Farms were destroyed and the village suffered from food and water shortage.

Tropical Cyclone Seru

On the 24th of February, Tropical Cyclone Seru formed northeast of Vanuatu. It slowly intensified while tracking south over the next few days, becoming a Category 2 tropical cyclone on the Australian scale. Seru caused minimal damage in southern Vanuatu, and dissipated into a remnant low on the 1st of March.

Tropical Cyclone Tam

Tropical Cyclone Tam was named on 14 April by the Fiji Meteorological Service. By 15 April Tam peaked at 85km/h winds and 986 hpa. Tam transitioned into a deep subtropical cyclone on the 16th April and caused severe weather conditions in northern New Zealand, leading to power outages and travel disruptions in the

Northland Region Northland (), officially the Northland Region, is the northernmost of New Zealand's 16 regions of New Zealand, local government regions. New Zealanders sometimes refer to it as the Winterless North because of its mild climate all throughout t ...

and

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

. Strong waves caused by Tam resulted in 5 drownings in

. By 17 April, Cyclone Tam had caused power outages at 6,000 properties in Northland, the

Coromandel Peninsula The Coromandel Peninsula () on the North Island of New Zealand extends north from the western end of the Bay of Plenty, forming a natural barrier protecting the Hauraki Gulf and the Firth of Thames in the west from the Pacific Ocean ...

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty () is a large bight (geography), bight along the northern coast of New Zealand's North Island. It stretches from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaway in the east. Called ''Te Moana-a-Toitehuatahi'' (the Ocean ...

and Gisborne. By 18 April, Cyclone Tam had caused flooding in the Coromandel Peninsula, disrupting roads and highways. In addition, flooding and strong winds were also reported in the

Far North District The Far North District is the northernmost Territorial authorities of New Zealand, territorial authority district of New Zealand, consisting of the northern part of the Northland Peninsula in the North Island. It stretches from North Cape (New ...

, causing road closures and flight disruptions. By 19 April, Auckland authorities had issued an emergency alert in response to flooding, thunderstorms and travel disruptions. On 20 April, Auckland authorities issued a second emergency alert in response to flooding caused by Cyclone Tam. By 21 April, ex-tropical Cyclone Tam had begun to ease despite heavy rain and thunderstorms in parts of the North and South Island. At its peak, 24,000 homes in Northland had experienced power outages. By 21 April, fewer than 100 houses in Northland remained without power. The

Auckland Council Auckland Council () is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that also has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is a unitary authority, according to t ...

inspected 16 properties that had experienced flooding. By 22 April, line companies had restored power to most houses in Northland, with about 25 Far North homes still remaining disconnected.

Other systems

On 13 December, a

subtropical cyclone A subtropical cyclone is a weather system that has some characteristics of both tropical cyclone, tropical and extratropical cyclones. As early as the 1950s, meteorologists were uncertain whether they should be characterized as Tropical cyclone ...

formed near the

and was designated 95P by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. It transitioned into an extratropical cyclone on 17 December. On 10 May, another subtropical cyclone also designated 95P formed southwest of Fiji.

Storm names

Within the Southern Pacific, a tropical depression is judged to have reached tropical cyclone intensity should it reach winds of and it is evident that gales are occurring at least halfway around the center. Tropical depressions intensifying into a tropical cyclone between the Equator and 26°S and between 160°E - 120°W are named by the FMS; should a tropical depression intensify to the south of 26°S between 160°E and 120°W it will be named in conjunction with the FMS by MetService. The names ''Pita'' and ''Seru'' were used for the first time this year, as they replaced ''Percy'' and ''Sheila'' after the 2004–05 season. Should a tropical cyclone move out of the basin and into the Australian region it will retain its original name. The names that were used for the 2024–25 season are listed below:

Season effects

This table lists all the storms that developed in the South Pacific to the east of longitude 160°E during the 2024–25 season. It includes their intensity on the Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale, duration, name, landfalls, deaths, and damages. All data is taken from RSMC Nadi and/or TCWC Wellington, and all of the damage figures are in 2024 or 2025 USD. , -

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:2024-25 South Pacific cyclone season South Pacific cyclone seasons