page_title: Tropical cyclones in 2005
section_title: March
hierarchical_section_title: Tropical cyclones in 2005 / Systems / March
caption_attribution_description: Cyclone Ingrid was just below a Category 5 status when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image on March 8, 2005. The storm is steadily bearing down on Australia’s Cape York Peninsula, where residents are under a cyclone warning. Storms of this magnitude are unusual in the Coral Sea, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology; the last storm of this size to strike northern Queensland came ashore in 1918. Ingrid had winds of 240 kilometers per hour (150 mph) with gusts to 296 kph (184 mph), and was moving west at 8 kilometers per hour (5 mph) when this image was taken. The image reveals Ingrid’s large, clear eye, through which dark ocean water is clearly visible. The storm is expected to move ashore early on March 9, local time.
context_page_description: During 2005, tropical cyclones formed within seven different tropical cyclone basins, located within various parts of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. During the year, a total of 141 systems formed with 94 of these developing further and were named by the responsible warning centre. The strongest tropical cyclone of the year was Hurricane Wilma, which was estimated to have a minimum barometric pressure of 882 hPa.
  The 2005 was above-average in terms of the number of storms. The most active basin in the year was the North Atlantic, which documented 28 named systems. The Western Pacific had an near-average season with 23 named storms. The Eastern Pacific hurricane season experienced an above average number of tropical storm intensity systems, numbering 15. Activity across the southern hemisphere's three basins - South-West Indian, Australian, and South Pacific - was fairly significant, with the regions recording 23 named storms altogether, with the most intense Southern Hemisphere cyclone of the year, Cyclone Percy from the South Pacific Ocean basin peaking at 145 mph and 900 millibars.
caption: Cyclone Ingrid
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