Cyclone Drena path, 1997

What the record says

Drena was a cyclone in the South Pacific and Australian region basin that lasted about 12 days, from 1 January 1997 to 13 January 1997. Its peak was Category 4 (120 kt) on 5 January 1997, with a 1-minute sustained wind of 120 kt (138 mph, 222 km/h). Its lowest recorded pressure was 935 hPa.

• Category 4peak intensity
• 120 ktpeak wind (138 mph)
• 935 hPalowest pressure
• 12 dayslifetime

Source of the peak wind: US Joint Typhoon Warning Center (southern hemisphere). The regional forecast centre (Australian Bureau of Meteorology) gave a peak of 90 kt on its own averaging convention (10-minute winds), so the two figures differ.

It has its own page because it reached category 4 or stronger.

This page gives the official record's figures. It does not describe the human cost of the storm, which is far larger than any wind speed or pressure here.

Where it came ashore

The record shows no landfall: the storm stayed at sea.

Countries it came within 50 km of

Strongest effect first.

• New Caledonia
• norfolk island
• New Zealand
• Solomon Islands
• Vanuatu

How to read this track

The line joins the storm's six-hourly positions with straight lines, coloured by its intensity at each point, so it shows how the storm strengthened and weakened. The real path curved between the positions. A dashed grey stretch means the storm had become post-tropical. Records before the satellite era (about the 1960s) are estimates.

Source: NOAA NCEI IBTrACS, public domain. See data sources and caveats.