User:Jason Rees/Nigel-Eric

Severe Tropical Cyclones Eric and Nigel were two separate tropical cyclones, that impacted the island nations of Vanuatu and Fiji during January 1985.

Eric
On January 13, 1985 the Fiji Meteorological Service (FMS) started to monitor a shallow depression, that had developed within the monsoon trough about 835 km to the west of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu. Over the next day as the system moved eastwards it developed further, with satellite imagery showing an increase in the "cyclonic curvature" of the "convective cloud". As a result, early on January 14, the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JTWC) reported that the systems chances of becoming a tropical cyclone were good. During that day the system rapidly developed further and became better defined with gale-force winds developing near the centre, with the JTWC initiating advisories on the system and designated it as Tropical Cyclone 11P at 12:00 UTC (00:00 FST). Four hours later as the system moved closer to Espiritu Santo, the FMS named the system Eric as it had become equivalent to a category 1 tropical cyclone on the modern day Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale. Eric subsequently passed near or over Espiritu Santo during January 15, before it turned and accelerated south-eastwards. Eric subsequently became equivalent to a category 3 severe tropical cyclone early the next day, before an Air Pacific flight from Fiji to the Solomon Islands located the systems eye on radar. The eye subsequently appeared on satellite imagery later that day, before it came into the range of Nadi airports surveillance radar at around 00:30 UTC (12:30 FST) on January 17. The FMS were subsequently able to perform fixes on the systems eye until around 07:00 UTC (19:00 FST), when the radars antenna had to be taken down and locked away as the wind speeds at Nadi increased.

During that day Eric's eye seemed to contract to around 10 mi as it made passed through Fiji's Western Division and made landfall on the Fijian main island of Viti Levu about 5 mi to the south of Nadi. Ahead of the system making landfall the FMS estimated that the system had peaked with 10-minute sustained wind-speeds of 150 km/h (90 mph). After the system had made landfall the JTWC estimated that Eric had peaked with 1-minute sustained wind speeds of 185 km/h (115 mph), which made it equivalent to a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. At around 10:45 UTC (22:45 FST) after the winds at Nadi had decreased the FMS were able to bring the radar back into operation and noted that Eric's eye region had been modified by the landmass of Viti-Levu. The system subsequently passed near or over Fiji's capital: Suva, before it emerged into the Koro Sea and weakened below hurricane force. The system passed about 10 mi to the south of the Fijian Island, Moala at around 14:30 UTC (02:30 FST, December 18). The system subsequently exited the Fijian Islands shortly afterwards and was heading towards the Tongan Haʻapai Group of islands. Early on January 18, Eric passed through the Ha'apai islands just to the south of Nomuka. After affecting the Tongan islands, Eric moved south-eastwards and gradually weakened further before it was last noted during January 20, over 1800 km to the south of Papeete, French Polynesia.

Nigel
Severe Tropical Cyclone Nigel was first noted as an ill-defined low, located within the Intertropical Convergence Zone near the Cape York Peninsula during January 1985. Over the next several days, the system gradually moved eastwards into the Coral Sea, before the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) reported that a recognizable circulation had developed during January 14. Over the next two days, the low moved eastwards and slowly developed further, before the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) initiated advisories on the system and designated it as Tropical Cyclone 13P early on January 16. Later that day the BoM named the system Nigel as it became equivalent to a modern-day category 1 tropical cyclone on the Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale and moved out of the Australian region into the South Pacific basin. By this time, the JTWC were reporting that Nigel, had become equivalent to a category 1 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale. During January 17, Nigel developed an eye and became equivalent to a category 3 severe tropical cyclone, before it passed very near to or over various northern Vanuatuan islands, including Espiritu Santo.

During January 18, Nigel's eyewall started to appear on Nadi airports surveillance radar, as it had started to move south-eastwards towards Fiji. Early the next day the JTWC estimated that Nigel had peaked with 1-minute sustained wind speeds of 195 km/h, which made it equivalent to a category 3 hurricane on the SSHWS. At around the same time, it was estimated that Nigel had peaked with 10-minute sustained wind speeds of 150 km/h, which made it equivalent to a category 3 severe tropical cyclone on the Australian scale. During January 19, as the system moved closer towards Nadi its eye became more distinct on the radar, which showed that Nigel had started to slowly weaken, possibly due to strong vertical wind shear and dry air driven up from higher latitudes by Cyclone Eric. Later that day at around 04:00 UTC (16:00 FST), the system passed near Fiji's southern Yasawa Islands and northern Mamanuca Islands. The centre of Nigel's eye subsequently made landfall on Fiji's largest island Viti Levu about an hour later, while equivalent to a category 3 severe tropical cyclone. As Nigel moved inland it rapidly weakened due to frictional forces and became equivalent to a category 1 tropical cyclone on the Australian scale. The system subsequently emerged into the Pacific Ocean later that day, before it passed through the Tongan Islands and to the south of Niue during January 20. Nigel weakened below tropical cyclone intensity during January 22, before it was last noted during January 28, while located about 800 km to the north of Auckland, New Zealand.