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1981–82 South Pacific cyclone season

South Pacific tropical cyclone season

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 25, 2026
Entity authorityQ16156156
Source-derived summary

The 1981–82 South Pacific cyclone season was a slightly-below average South Pacific tropical cyclone season, with 6 tropical cyclones occurring within the South Pacific Ocean basin between 160°E and 120°W during the season. After this season, the names Gyan and Isaac were retired from the lists of names, after they caused significant impacts to South Pacific island nations.

During the season, tropical cyclones were monitored by the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centers in Nadi, Fiji, Brisbane, Australia and Wellington, New Zealand. During the season TCWC Nadi issued warnings and assigned names to any tropical cyclones that developed between the Equator and 25°S while TCWC Wellington issued warnings for any that were located to the south of 25°S. The United States Armed Forces through the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) and Naval Pacific Meteorology and Oceanography Center (NPMOC), also monitored the basin and issued unofficial warnings for American interests. TCWC Nadi, Brisbane and Wellington measured sustained windspeeds over a 10-minute which are compared to the modern day Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale. The JTWC and the NPMOC measured sustained windspeeds over a 1-minute period which are compared to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale (SSHS).

Seasonal summary

Systems

Severe Tropical Cyclone Gyan

Severe Tropical Cyclone Gyan existed from December 18 to December 29.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Hettie

Severe Tropical Cyclone Hettie existed from January 24 to February 1.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Abigail

Severe Tropical Cyclone Abigail existed from February 1 to February 7.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Isaac

The tropical cyclone developed 160 km/100 mi northeast of western Samoa and travelled southwest at 12 knots, moving through the Ha'apai island group and only 50 km/30 mi northwest of Tongatapu.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “1981–82 South Pacific cyclone season” as south Pacific tropical cyclone season. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around South, Pacific and cyclone.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1981—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with South, Pacific and cyclone providing the first useful test.
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Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16156156. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1981.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from 1981–82 South Pacific cyclone season” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.