Tropical Cyclone Winston causes devastation in Fiji, a tropical paradise

As one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere, tropical cyclone (TC) Winston and its 185-mph winds caused widespread devastation across the island nation of Fiji when it made landfall February 19-20. The storm was one of the strongest tropical cyclones to make landfall anywhere on earth since the modern era of global records began in 1970.

Tropical Cyclone Winston sprawled across the Fiji Islands on February 20, 2016. This infrared view of the storm from the NOAA-NASA Suomi satellite shows warm surfaces (such as the open ocean at image upper right) in shades of blue with progressively colder temperatures (such as the tops of Winston’s towering thunderstorm clouds) in darkest red. Image by Dan Pisut, NOAA Environmental Visualization Lab.

With satellite estimated wind speeds of up to 185mph, TC Winston was the eleventh Category 5 storm in the South Pacific Ocean since reliable records began in 1970, and it was one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere. For Fiji, Winston was the first Category 5 storm to make landfall across the country as well as one of the strongest tropical cyclones to make landfall anywhere on earth since records began in 1970. (It is difficult to ascertain the strength of some of the strongest cyclones prior to the arrival of satellites in 1970, which is why I say Winston was “one of the strongest.” Regardless, Winston was a significant and historic event.)

The eye of Tropical Cyclone Winston passing over Koro Island at 1:30 p.m. Fiji time on February 20, 2016. Aqua satellite image from NASA Earth Observatory.

The small island of Koro bore the brunt of Winston, likely observing wind speeds normally seen in EF4 tornadoes. New Zealand Defence AirForce images that were shared on

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