The 2026 season

Cyclone Vaianu (2026)

Cyclone Vaianu reached Category 3 in the South Pacific between April 5, 2026 and April 9, 2026, with a lowest pressure of 954 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Vaianu, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 2026 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

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The storm

Basin
South Pacific
Dates
April 5, 2026 to April 9, 2026
Peak strength
Category 3, 99 kt (114 mph)
Lowest pressure
954 mb (28.17 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 241 km (150 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
10.6
Identifier
SH312026

Deaths and damage

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Apr 5, 00:0013.8S 171.8E39 kt994 mbNot reported
Apr 5, 06:0014.5S 172.6E51 kt988 mbNot reported
Apr 5, 12:0014.9S 172.4E54 kt987 mbNot reported
Apr 5, 18:0015.1S 172.6E74 kt973 mbNot reported
Apr 6, 00:0015.7S 173.1E80 kt971 mbNot reported
Apr 6, 06:0016.1S 173.6E89 kt964 mbNot reported
Apr 6, 12:0016.5S 173.8E93 kt959 mbNot reported
Apr 6, 18:0017.1S 174.4E93 kt958 mbNot reported
Apr 7, 00:0018.1S 174.8E99 kt954 mbNot reported
Apr 7, 06:0019.2S 175.3E99 kt954 mbNot reported
Apr 7, 12:0020.0S 175.9E93 kt958 mbNot reported
Apr 7, 18:0021.1S 177.0E89 kt962 mbNot reported
Apr 8, 00:0022.2S 177.4E80 kt970 mbNot reported
Apr 8, 06:0023.4S 177.8E74 kt973 mbNot reported
Apr 8, 12:0024.6S 178.4E64 kt978 mbNot reported
Apr 8, 18:0025.4S 178.5E60 kt980 mbNot reported
Apr 9, 00:0026.2S 178.8E60 kt979 mbNot reported
Apr 9, 06:0026.8S 179.0E54 kt981 mbNot reported

Other South Pacific storms of 2026

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.