Friday, 19th March 2010 - Cyclone Ului

Severe Tropical Cyclone Ului was first identified by the Fiji Meteorological Service (FMS) late on 9 March roughly 130 kilometres (80 miles) north of Hiw Island, Vanuatu. At that time, the system was classified as Tropical Disturbance 13F. Early the following day, the system became sufficiently organised for the FMS to upgrade the disturbance to a tropical depression. Several hours later, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) also began monitoring the system. By this time, deep convection had developed around a low-level circulation and banding features had formed. A slow westward movement was expected as the depression was situated north of a subtropical ridge.

Cyclones Tomas and Ului  on 16 MarchOn 12 March, 13F was upgraded to Tropical Cyclone Ului. By early on 13 March, it was a category 2 cyclone. Later that day, Ului strengthened into a category 3, making it a severe tropical cyclone. The storm continued to strengthen throughout the day and that night it became a category 5. Ului became the first category 5 South Pacific cyclone since Severe Tropical Cyclone Percy in February 2005 but weakened to category 4 about the time it crossed the 160°E meridian. Ului was predicted to restrengthen back into a category 5 as it moved away from an upper level low and Severe Tropical Cyclone Tomas, however Ului remained as a category 4 and had weakened to a category 3 system in the early hours of 18 March. It weakened further to category 2 for a while before regaining category 3 strength. Early on 21 March (local time) it crossed the outlying Whitsunday Islands and made landfall near Airlie Beach, Queensland.