Summary
Tropical cyclone Bernie developed from a tropical low which on 1 April was embedded in the inter-tropical convergence zone north of Santa Isabel in the Solomon Islands group. Moving in a south southwesterly direction, the low reached cyclonic intensity on the night of the 1st and crossed Santa Isabel on the morning of the 2nd with a central pressure of 990 hPa.
During the next three days the cyclone maintained its south southwesterly direction of movement and gradually intensified. At 0000 UTC 5 April, Bernie commenced to recurve to the southeast and 24 hours later attained its greatest intensity of 945 hPa. Bernie moved out of the Eastern Region at about 1200 UTC 6 April and gradually weakened as it continued its southeasterly movement.
As Bernie crossed the Solomon Islands it caused some crop and property damage as well as local flooding on a number of the islands. The cyclone had little effect on Queensland apart from strong winds experienced in central and southern coastal areas on the 5th and 6th. The strongest wind associated with the cyclone was a report of 126 km/h from a ship situated 160 km to the northeast of the centre at 2100 UTC 3 April.
Track and intensity
