Severe Tropical Cyclone Pancho

18 January - 17 February 1997

Summary

Tropical cyclone Pancho/Helinda was a long-lived cyclone with a highly convoluted track. The cyclone was named on 20 January when it was north-northwest of the Cocos Islands. Its general direction was southeasterly until it stalled near 90°E where it was renamed Helinda by the Mauritius Meteorological Service before weakening and finally moving north as a tropical low and re-intensifying, heading south and then west past 90°E. Pancho/Helinda finally weakened to below cyclone strength during 4 February and was no longer discernable as a circulation later on 7 February near 19°S 76°E.

For more details see the TC Pancho Report (pdf)

Track and intensity

All times in WST - subtract 8 hours to convert to UTC.

Best Track of Severe Tropical Cyclone Pancho-Helinda