The 2021 season

Cyclone Yasa (2021)

Cyclone Yasa reached Category 5 in the South Pacific between December 11, 2020 and December 21, 2020, with a lowest pressure of 914 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Cyclone Yasa. Open it to see storms, cones and warnings on the map.

Open the live radar with storms, cones and warnings

Radar mosaic and map layers from NOAA MRMS. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

The storm

Basin
South Pacific
Dates
December 11, 2020 to December 21, 2020
Peak strength
Category 5, 140 kt (161 mph)
Lowest pressure
914 mb (26.99 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
23.1
Identifier
SH052021

Deaths and damage

No source this site reads carries a casualty or damage figure for this storm.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Dec 11, 06:0012.9S 168.4E20 kt1004 mbDisturbance
Dec 11, 12:0012.8S 169.2E25 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Dec 11, 18:0012.8S 170.5E25 kt1001 mbTropical depression
Dec 12, 00:0012.9S 171.3E25 kt1003 mbTropical depression
Dec 12, 06:0013.1S 172.1E30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Dec 12, 12:0013.8S 173.1E30 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Dec 12, 18:0014.3S 173.5E35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 00:0015.1S 173.3E40 kt998 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 06:0015.3S 173.0E45 kt993 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 12:0015.5S 172.7E45 kt995 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 18:0015.7S 172.3E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 00:0015.8S 171.9E60 kt987 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 06:0015.7S 171.8E60 kt984 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 12:0015.5S 171.9E65 kt982 mbTyphoon
Dec 14, 18:0015.2S 172.2E80 kt971 mbTyphoon
Dec 15, 00:0015.0S 172.5E85 kt968 mbTyphoon
Dec 15, 06:0014.9S 172.7E110 kt944 mbTyphoon
Dec 15, 12:0014.8S 173.1E120 kt937 mbTyphoon
Dec 15, 18:0014.7S 173.5E135 kt919 mbSuper typhoon
Dec 16, 00:0014.7S 174.5E140 kt914 mbSuper typhoon
Dec 16, 06:0015.0S 175.0E135 kt919 mbSuper typhoon
Dec 16, 12:0015.2S 175.6E140 kt915 mbSuper typhoon
Dec 16, 18:0015.6S 176.7E135 kt919 mbSuper typhoon
Dec 17, 00:0016.0S 177.7E125 kt930 mbTyphoon
Dec 17, 06:0016.5S 178.7E115 kt939 mbTyphoon
Dec 17, 12:0017.0S 179.7E95 kt960 mbTyphoon
Dec 17, 18:0017.9S 179.4W85 kt967 mbTyphoon
Dec 18, 00:0018.3S 178.9W75 kt975 mbTyphoon
Dec 18, 06:0019.0S 178.2W75 kt974 mbTyphoon
Dec 18, 12:0019.5S 178.0W70 kt977 mbTyphoon
Dec 18, 18:0020.3S 178.0W55 kt987 mbTropical storm
Dec 19, 00:0020.9S 178.0W45 kt991 mbTropical storm
Dec 19, 06:0021.7S 177.9W50 kt987 mbTropical storm
Dec 19, 12:0022.1S 177.7W50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 19, 18:0022.8S 177.8W50 kt988 mbTropical storm
Dec 20, 00:0023.3S 178.1W45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 20, 06:0023.6S 178.4W45 kt989 mbSubtropical storm
Dec 20, 12:0023.9S 178.6W40 kt994 mbSubtropical storm
Dec 20, 18:0024.4S 178.8W35 kt996 mbSubtropical storm
Dec 21, 00:0024.9S 179.2W35 kt996 mbSubtropical storm
Dec 21, 06:0025.2S 179.4W25 kt995 mbSubtropical depression

Other South Pacific storms of 2021

What this means

A best track is the record a warning agency settles on after the storm, not what it said at the time: position, maximum sustained wind and central pressure every six hours, revised against every observation that came in later. Category is the Saffir-Simpson scale, which runs from Category 1 at 64 kt to Category 5 at 137 kt and reads wind only, so it says nothing about surge or rain. Accumulated cyclone energy adds up the square of the wind through the storm's life, so it counts strength and duration together.

Sources

Storm history from NOAA NCEI’s International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS), which merges the official best track of every warning agency. Live storms, cones, watches and warnings from the National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Archived radar from NOAA’s Level II archive.