The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has announced that last year’s Cyclone Freddy was the longest-lasting tropical cyclone on record, having spent 36 days at tropical storm status.
Between February 4 and March 14, Freddy started off the coast of northwest Australia and made its way across the Indian Ocean Basin before making landfall in southeast Africa. In that time, it was classified as a tropical system for 36 days – beating the previous record holder, Typhoon John, by 6.75 days, bringing an end to a streak it had going since 1994.
Freddy also traveled around 12,785 kilometers (7,945 miles) whilst holding its tropical storm status. That’s where it falls short of beating John, but it’s certainly not a distance to be pooh-poohed – it’s nearly 33 percent of the Earth’s circumference.
But its duration and distance traveled aren’t the only things that make Freddy an exceptional event; the cyclone also has the highest all-time accumulated cyclone energy (a measure of the storm’s strength over time) in history and was the first in the Southern Hemisphere to rapidly intensify in strength on four separate occasions.
At its most intense, it had maximum wind speeds of 257 kilometers (160 miles) per hour, putting it in the highest-strength group of tropical cyclone classification. In Atlantic hurricane terms, it’d be a Category 5.
The most tangible evidence for such statistics can be found in the devastating impact that Cyclone Freddy had on the places it hit.
“Freddy was a remarkable tropical cyclone, not only for its longevity but also for its ability to survive multiple land interactions, which unfortunately had significant consequences for southeast African populations,” said Chris Velden – a tropical cyclone and satellite expert who formed part of the WMO committee making the decision on the record – in a statement.
Some of the hardest-hit areas were Madagascar, Mozambique, and Malawi, where Cyclone Freddy brought not only catastrophic winds but also storm surges and torrential rains, causing widespread destruction. The cyclone also looped back two weeks later, adding to the damage.
It’s thought that over 1.3 million people were affected by Freddy in Mozambique, with more than 180 deaths, and more than 1,200 people were reported as either dead or missing in Malawi.
However, the WMO believes the death toll may well have been higher if it weren’t for advanced warnings giving people in the countries affected a chance to prepare and evacuate.
“Tropical Cyclone Freddy was a text book example of the importance of the UN Early Warnings for All initiative to ensure that everyone is protected in the next five years,” said WMO Tropical Cyclone Programme scientific officer Anne-Claire Fontan.
Freddy also may not be the last record-breaking storm we see, according to those who’ve added it to the ranks of the WMO’s Archive of Weather and Climate Extremes.
“It is possible, and indeed likely, that greater extremes will occur in the future,” said Randall Cerveny, Rapporteur of Climate and Weather Extremes for WMO.
And if the start of the Atlantic hurricane season is anything to go by, it’s a prediction that seems to be coming true already.
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