page_title: Cyclone Veronica
section_title: Meteorological history
hierarchical_section_title: Cyclone Veronica / Meteorological history
caption_attribution_description: English: Track map of Severe Tropical Cyclone Veronica of the 2018-19 Australian region cyclone season. The points show the location of the storm at 6-hour intervals. The colour represents the storm's maximum sustained wind speeds as classified in the Saffir–Simpson scale (see below), and the shape of the data points represent the nature of the storm, according to the legend below. Saffir–Simpson scale Tropical depression≤38 mph≤62 km/h Category 3111–129 mph178–208 km/h Tropical storm39–73 mph63–118 km/h Category 4130–156 mph209–251 km/h Category 174–95 mph119–153 km/h Category 5≥157 mph≥252 km/h Category 296–110 mph154–177 km/h Unknown Storm type Tropical cyclone Subtropical cyclone Extratropical cyclone / Remnant low / Tropical disturbance
context_page_description: Severe Tropical Cyclone Veronica was a large and powerful tropical cyclone which brought major impacts to the Pilbara region of Western Australia during March 2019. The nineteenth tropical low, eighth tropical cyclone and fifth severe tropical cyclone on the 2018–19 Australian region cyclone season, Veronica first appeared as a tropical low near East Timor on 18 March 2019. The system was slow to develop initially while tracking southwestwards through the Timor Sea, but began to consolidate the following day. The storm was upgraded by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology to a Category 1 tropical cyclone on the Australian scale at 18:00 UTC on 19 March, by which time a steady development trend had begun. Upon attaining Category 2 status at 06:00 UTC on 20 March, Veronica underwent a period of explosive intensification. The system became a severe tropical cyclone six hours later, and Category 4 just six hours after that. Veronica reached peak intensity at 06:00 UTC the following day as a high-end Category 4 severe tropical cyclone, with ten-minute sustained winds estimated at 195 km/h, and a central barometric pressure of 938 hPa.
context_section_description: On 18 March, a tropical low formed to the southeast of East Timor. At 03:00 AWST on the morning of 20 March, the Bureau of Meteorology assessed the developing tropical low as having attained tropical cyclone strength, and named the system Veronica. Experiencing extremely favourable atmospheric conditions and very warm sea surface temperatures, Tropical Cyclone Veronica proceeded to intensify rapidly throughout the day, attaining Category 3 status on the Australian scale just 18 hours later.
  In preparation for passage of Veronica, major shipping ports on the Pilbara coastline were forced to cease operations in the interests of safety. The port of Port Hedland, the most valuable export hub in Australia and one of the largest iron ore loading ports in the world, was closed on 22 March, with operations only resuming nearly four days later. As a result of the disruption to the mining and export operations, Rio Tinto estimated that its iron ore production would suffer reductions of approximately 14 million tonnes during 2019. Rio Tinto's Cape Lambert port wharf also sustained damage from waves generated by the cyclone, and repairs to the company's Robe River sorting facility following a fire earlier in the year were delayed during the event. Fortescue Metals reported that exports of up to 2 million tonnes of its own iron ore were disrupted during the cyclone. In total, economic costs associated with the mining disruptions and damage caused by Veronica reached A$1.7 billion (US$1.2 billion) in Rio Tinto.
caption: Map plotting the track and the intensity of the storm, according to the Saffir–Simpson scale
exif: {}