Cyclone Gavin

Severe Tropical Cyclone Gavin

Category 4 severe tropical cyclone (Aus scale)
Category 4 (Saffir–Simpson scale)
Cyclone Gavin near its peak intensity on March 8
Formed	March 2, 1997
Dissipated	March 11, 1997
Highest winds	10-minute sustained: 185 km/h (115 mph) 1-minute sustained: 220 km/h (140 mph)
Lowest pressure	925 hPa (mbar); 27.32 inHg
Fatalities	18
Damage	$23.7 million (1997 USD)
Areas affected	Tuvalu, Wallis and Futuna, Fiji, New Zealand
Part of the 1996–97 South Pacific cyclone season

Severe Tropical Cyclone Gavin was the most intense tropical cyclone to affect Fiji, since Cyclone Oscar of the 1982–83 cyclone season and was the first of three tropical cyclones to affect the island nations of Tuvalu and Wallis and Futuna during the 1996–97 season. The system that was to become Gavin was first identified during March 2, as a weak tropical depression that had developed within the monsoon trough of low pressure. Over the next two days the depression gradually developed further, before it was named Gavin by RSMC Nadi early on March 4 as it had developed into a tropical cyclone.

On March 2, 1997, the Fiji Meteorological Service's Regional Specialized Meteorological Center in Nadi, Fiji (RSMC Nadi) and the United States Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) started to monitor a tropical depression that had developed within the monsoon trough to the northwest of the Fijian dependency of Rotuma. Over the next two days, the depression gradually developed further as it moved slowly towards the east — southeast, before the JTWC reported at 0600 UTC on March 3, that the system had become equivalent to a tropical storm and designated it as Tropical Cyclone 31P. Throughout that day Gavin intensified further before RSMC Nadi reported early on March 4, that the depression had become a category one tropical cyclone on the Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale and named it Gavin. After being named Gavin moved eastwards towards the southern Tuvaluan Islands and intensified quickly, with the JTWC reporting later that day that the system had become equivalent to a category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale (SSHS).

Early on March 5, RSMC Nadi reported that Gavin had become a category 3 severe tropical cyclone after the system had developed an eye. During that day two troughs of low pressure combined to steer the system to the southeast as it passed about 50 km (30 mi) to the southwest of Niulakita, Tuvalu with estimated 10-minute sustained wind speeds of about 155 km/h (100 mph). After Gavin had intensified throughout that day, RSMC Nadi reported at 1800 UTC, that the system had become a category 4 severe tropical cyclone, while the JTWC reported that the cyclone had reached its initial peak intensity with 1-minute sustained winds of 215 km/h (130 mph), which made it equivalent to a category 4 hurricane on the SSHS. Early on March 6, RSMC Nadi reported that Gavin was moving towards Fiji and had reached its peak intensity as a category 4 severe tropical cyclone, with 10-minute sustained winds of 185 km/h (115 mph). Later that day the system passed about 215 km (135 mi) to the west of the French territory of Futuna, before it started to weaken as it passed about 95 km (60 mi) to the northwest of Labasa on the Fijian Island of Vanua Levu.