Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Climatology | Impacts | Extremes| TCs affecting WA towns | Forecast Accuracy
Frequently Asked Questions | Annual summaries

Definitions | Characteristics and Formation | Climatology | Extremes | Forecasting | More Information

Definitions

11. How does the amount of damage caused by a cyclone increase as the wind speed increases?

Or to rephrase the question: Would a cyclone with wind gusts of 280 km/h cause twice the damage of a similar sized cyclone with wind gusts of 140 km/h? No - it would cause hundreds of times more damage.

As wind speed increases the power of the wind to do damage increases exponentially. Hence a category 5 severe tropical cyclone (with wind gusts > 280 km/h) has the potential to do around 250 times the damage of a Category 3 severe tropical cyclone (with wind gusts of 170 km/h). This underscores the importance of the category system.

Graphical representation of the variation of damage with wind speed.

Image provided by Michael Drayton, Risk Management Solutions Inc. after George Walker, Australian residential, post 1980 construction.