Hurricane History Map

Cyclone Laurence path, 2010

South Pacific and Australian region basin, 8 December 2009 to 23 December 2009. Its recorded track is shown on the map and selected for you.

Tap or scroll to load the interactive map

Years1842 to 2026
Ocean basin

Choosing a minimum category hides storms with no wind speed in the record. To see which storms have passed near you, search a town or ZIP code, or tap the map.

Key
  • Tropical depression Winds below 34 knots (39 mph)
  • Tropical storm 34 to 63 knots (39 to 73 mph)
  • Category 1 64 to 82 knots (74 to 95 mph)
  • Category 2 83 to 95 knots (96 to 110 mph)
  • Category 3 96 to 112 knots (111 to 129 mph), major
  • Category 4 113 to 136 knots (130 to 156 mph), major
  • Category 5 137 knots (157 mph) or more, major
  • Unknown intensity No wind speed in the record
  • Post-tropical Storm has become post-tropical (dashed line)

How to read the lines. Each line is the track of one storm, drawn through its six-hourly positions and coloured by its intensity at each point (the Saffir-Simpson scale), so a line changes colour as the storm strengthens or weakens. Tap a line for its details, or tap anywhere else to see which storms have passed nearby. Weaker storms appear as you zoom in. Hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones are the same kind of storm with different names in different oceans.

What the record says

Laurence was a cyclone in the South Pacific and Australian region basin that lasted about 15 days, from 8 December 2009 to 23 December 2009. Its peak was Category 4 (130 kt) on 21 December 2009, with a 1-minute sustained wind of 130 kt (150 mph, 241 km/h). Its lowest recorded pressure was 925 hPa.

  • Category 4peak intensity
  • 130 ktpeak wind (150 mph)
  • 925 hPalowest pressure
  • 15 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 110 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

A landfall here is the first tropical position over land after time at sea, so it is within about six hours of the real event. The record shows up to 8.

Countries it came within 50 km of

Strongest effect first.

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.

Other notable storms of the 2010 South Pacific and Australian region season

Other notable storms near Australia

  • Monica (2006)16 April 2006 to 27 April 2006, peak Category 5 (155 kt), 916 hPa
  • Marcus (2018)14 March 2018 to 25 March 2018, peak Category 5 (150 kt), 905 hPa
  • Inigo (2003)29 March 2003 to 8 April 2003, peak Category 5 (140 kt), 914 hPa
  • Ita (2014)2 April 2014 to 18 April 2014, peak Category 5 (140 kt), 922 hPa
  • Orson (1989)16 April 1989 to 24 April 1989, peak Category 5 (140 kt), 905 hPa

The 2010 South Pacific and Australian region season · All notable storms

Embed this map

Copy this code into your web page. It is free to use. Please keep the link under the map, as it is how people find where the map comes from.